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ElcomSoft Jury Denied Access to full DMCA Text
ryochiji writes "Wired Online is reporting in this article that the jury in the ElcomSoft trial requested access 'to the full copy of the DMCA to assist in their decision-making' but was declined. 'Instead, [Judge] Whyte said he would answer specific questions jurors had about portions of the law they must consider in determining ElcomSoft's guilt or innocence.' I don't know if this is common practice in the court of law, but it somehow doesn't sound right ..."
Goddamn, but that is just dumb. Your first point is completely wrong, and your second point shows that you didn't even understand the topic.
Juries get to read large chunks of the law all of the time. They usually receive an interpretation of the statute from the judge as well. The two are not exclusive. If you ever sit on a criminal jury, you may find yourself making decisions as to which statute best fits the crime--all from the statutes as they are written.
Your second point claiming that "the jury is only allowed to decide the facts of the case within the law as it is written," is true (whatever the libertarians have to say about it) but beside the point. You're way off in left field with it. There is no evidence whatsoever that the jury is trying to decide whether or not the law is just--rather they want the text of it to see whether or not the DMCA applies in this case. That is a common request and rarely turned down.
In a few years after you graduate high school you will be called for jury duty (god help us) and find out what it is really like.
I find it amazing that a jury deciding a case has less access to the text of the law than any convicted felon in the United States of America.
If the judge is elected, he needs to be recalled, if he's appointed he needs to be impeached.
...it's generally done on the grounds that the law is so obtuse that the average juror wouldn't understand it...
So if a jury can't understand it enough to render a decision... how is the average person supposed to be able to understand it enough to avoid infringing it?