Didn’t exactly learned this “today” but the first time I heard of this, I was kinda surprised at this fact. I thought y’all should know since there is a case in the news that people are calling for Jury Nullification or Pardons. That could get a bit tricky considering this Dual Sovereignty Doctrine.
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Pardons require a sympathetic governor, which will never happen.
Jury nullification requires that everyone on the jury votes not-guilty, which is a pretty high bar to hit.
A hung jury, on the other hand, simply requires one or more members of the jury to vote not-guilty. He could still be re-tried, of course, but having just one principled person is a lot easier than having all 12.
Iirc many states only call it a hung jury if a minority of jurors vote not guilty. The three outcomes are unanimous guilty, hung jury, and majority innocent.
A Hung Jury is Hung Jury, doesn’t matter if its 11-1 or 1-11, prosecutor can retry.
Although usually prosecutors don’t retry if majority votes not guilty, there’s nothing really stopping them from retrying over and over (that is, unless the judge dismisses the case with prejudice).
Huh, looks like I mixed in civil cases. Well this is why I’m not lawyer.
This requires the crime to both be federally prohibited and under federal jurisdiction. Stuff like murder doesn’t typically fall under federal jurisdiction unless borders are crossed or federal property is involved or something like that.
I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure his gun was illegal, and he carried it across state lines. Those gun charges are probably prosecutable under federal laws. The murder tho, I’m not really sure.
Generally speaking, homemade guns are legal at the federal level as long as they aren’t otherwise prohibited (eg, full auto) and have enough metal to be picked up on a metal detector.
Feds usually only get involved in murder for things like serial killers or hate crimes.
Don’t you have to serialize them though? I understood you could use any scheme you like, and they don’t have to be registered, but it must have some sort of serial number.
You don’t have to serialize firearms you make* for your own personal use. You also don’t need to register them either*. In fact there’s restrictions on the federal government’s ability to keep a registry of guns. 18 USC 926(a)(3). From a policy perspective it’d just be creating another possession based crime that’s almost impossible to enforce. Because you could just pop a “1” on the side and claim that you sent in your registration paperwork but the government screwed up.
*True for title 1 firearms (most handguns, shotguns, and rifles) not certain other classes like those that machineguns or silencers fall into.
Ah! Love your sub BTW! Been meaning to contribute.
He didn’t carry it from New York to Pennsylvania, the police did.
How’s that? He used it in NY and they found him with it in PA.
That’s what they say happened, but it doesn’t many any sense. It’s a disposable 3D printed gun.
Does that include state borders, because he did cross those didn’t he?
Not a lawyer, but I don’t think the murderer crossing state lines matters. The murderer kidnapping the victims, crossing state boarders, and then killing does.
I presume attacking across the boarder would also count.
It might mean the feds help search for him, not guaranteed to mean federal charges
Crossposted it to !AskUSA@discuss.online
Fun fact: A prosecutor can screw up a case so badly, no other prosecutor can or will pick it up.
