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Toledo Vice Department

Update 10/7: The Toledo police department is investigating the use of NORML's logo on its internet site.

Check out the "wallpaper" on this page from the Toledo Police Department's Vice and Narcotics Unit manual. Think they are paying licensing rights? [received from NORML]

Update: link really fixed now. If you were looking for the jury nullification article, it's here.

A county treasurer is handing out booklets to potential jurors saying they are answerable "only to God almighty" and not to the law when it comes to deliberations. Jefferson County Treasurer Mark Paschall, a former state lawmaker known for his anti-abortion and pro-gun views, said the booklets are "my personal gift to the people."

The 61-page booklets promote "jury nullification," a concept promoted by conservative groups that say juries have the right to not only decide guilt or innocence, but also whether laws are just and adhere to God's law. "You are above the law!" the booklet says. "As a juror in a trial setting, when it comes to your individual vote of innocent or guilty, you truly are answerable only to God almighty."

Ugh, it's politicians like Paschall that give jury nullification a bad name.

While the conservative concept is relatively new, juries have always in effect practiced nullification from time to time. Juries refused to convict people who harbored runaway slaves before the Civil War, sold alcohol during Prohibition or resisted the draft during the Vietnam War.

Update: Walter in Denver has more on the jury nullification issue.

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