The illuminated billboard in the Judiciary Square Metro station near the F Street entrance was strategically placed.
Prospective jurors who take the subway to D.C. Superior Court and exit near the National Building Museum see these words: “Good jurors nullify bad laws” and “You have the right to ‘hang’ the jury with your vote if you cannot agree with other jurors.”
Since the billboard went up this month, District prosecutors have been worried that the message could sway their cases. In the past week alone, they have asked judges in three cases to ensure that jurors had neither seen nor been influenced by the billboard.
The billboard is part of a growing national campaign to encourage jurors who disagree with a law, or think a punishment is too harsh, to vote for acquittal. Kirsten Tynan of the Montana-based Fully Informed Jury Association, whose name and Web address is included on the billboard, said the nonprofit group generally challenges crimes it calls “victimless,” such as vandalism by graffiti or gun possession.
James Babb, a Philadelphia-based graphics artist who organized a fundraising campaign to put up the billboard, said he raised $3,000 in about a week through Facebook and other social-media sites. He said he is concerned about laws that he thinks are too restrictive.
) but anyone roaming around with a firearm can do so in a split second. It is hilarious how often I have heard Law Enforcement and other drug war proponents hide behind how many crimes are committed by drug addicts as an excuse to why drugs should be illegal as a preventative measure, yet the same logic isn't being applied to guns that can kill a group of people in seconds. I realise that this article did not pass any direct condemnation on to drug use but my interpretation of mentioning gun crime and not drug crime is that the author considers illegal guns less bad than illegal drugs (which are the perfect example of a victimless crime to be quite honest) which is fucking ridiculous.