BARNSTEAD, New Hampshire (PNN) - September 16, 2012 - Doug Darrell beat the odds and walked home from his trial a free man on Friday, a major win for the state’s new jury nullification law.
Facing felony drug cultivation charges for growing marijuana plants behind his house, the 59-year-old Rastafarian saw all charges against him dropped after jurors in his trial successfully convinced their peers to nullify the case on the grounds that Darrell was simply obeying the customs of his religion.
“Many of us wondered what kind of precedent this would set,” said juror and Free State Project participant Cathleen Converse. “After chewing on all the possibilities and re-reading the definition of nullification, we all decided that the only fair thing to do was to vote with our consciences and acquit the defendant of all charges.”
Doug Darrell never had any run-ins with the law until 2009, when an National Guard helicopter flying below legal altitude - meaning the fascist pilot was breaking the law - while looking for
drugs noticed that Darrell was growing marijuana in the backyard of his Barnstead home. Though the sighting was legally an invasion of privacy, federal drug authorities were notified anyway. Shortly thereafter, Darrell’s home was unlawfully raided by fascist pig thug cops and the Rastafarian found himself staring down the barrel of a terrorist thug cop assault rifle and facing multiple counts of felony possession of marijuana.
Darrell was offered several plea deals, including a final one that offered no jail time or fine in exchange for a guilty plea, but he refused to accept them on the grounds that doing so would be a violation of his religion.
Under New Hampshire’s HB.146, the defense has a right to instruct the jury to nullify a guilty verdict if they conscientiously object to the punishment. Darrell’s attorney, Mark Sisti, based his defense around this new law and, after the trial went to deliberation, persuaded the presiding judge to inform jurors of this power not once but twice. Given the circumstances of Darrell’s case, it took less than six hours for them to reach a unanimous verdict - not guilty on all counts.
It’s a groundbreaking win for participants of the Free State Project who helped get HB.146 signed into law. The Free State Project does not back any political candidates or specific legislation.
Founded in 2001 with the intent to attract 20,000 liberty-loving individuals to New Hampshire in order to restore the constitutional principles of personal responsibility and freedom, members of the Free State Project have quickly grown into the most significant liberty-based activist group in the country.
"So far, over 12,750 participants have pledged to relocate to the state, and more than 1,000 have already moved, over a dozen of which are currently elected members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives," said Free State Project President Carla Gericke. "Once here, participants are free to pursue their own causes and I'm excited to see progress being made."
