A Minneapolis-based activist network is now openly advertising “jury nullification training,” raising new concerns about the integrity of jury trials in the Twin Cities.
Defend612, which seeks to support “resistance to the ICE occupation in Minneapolis,” is promoting two virtual sessions titled “The People’s Pardon or Jury Nullification,” scheduled in the coming weeks.
One event description frames the effort: “Because when systems fail to deliver justice, the people must.”
“Jury Nullification is a legal tactic has been [sic] used to protect one another from unjust laws and political persecution,” the description says. “We will learn about jury nullification — or the people’s pardon — how it’s been used, ways it can stem authoritarian overreach, and how we can use it today.”
In an email to supporters, Defend612 described the trainings as a means of “protecting our local heroes through Jury Nullification.”
From online posts to organized instruction
Jury nullification occurs when jurors vote to acquit a defendant despite believing the law was broken, often because they oppose the law itself or how it is enforced.
Last month, Alpha News reported on a Minnesota Democratic Party official urging his followers to use jury nullification in a federal case involving an assault against an immigration enforcement officer.
Nick Kruse, a former vice president of the Minnesota Young DFL and current at-large director of Stonewall DFL, wrote in a since-deleted post on X that “no one should be going to prison for defending our city against ICE.”
Kruse was referring to the federal case of Claire Louise Feng, who is accused of biting off the tip of a U.S. Border Patrol agent’s finger during a struggle in Minneapolis.
He encouraged followers to spread information about jury nullification and to “act neutral” during voir dire — the jury selection process — in order to get seated.
Hellbound and Down 