Behind Closed Doors: Recent Episodes
Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA)
Go behind closed doors of the American criminal legal system to explore its inner workings with the Fully Informed Jury Association. We will focus on the American jury system, how it interacts with and is affected by other parts of the criminal legal system, and how our critical right to trial by jury has been driven to the brink of extinction.
In the last week, leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance, who did so much to keep the memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre alive in Hong Kong including running the June 4th Museum and organizing annual vigils in remembrance of the massacre, have been arrested. Hosts Kirsten Tynan, Executive Director of the Fully Informed Jury Association, and Robert Anthony Peters, Vice Chairman of the Fully Informed Jury Association, discuss China's destruction of trial by jury in the last couple of months, what "justice" looks like now for these ad other people who have been arrested this year in Hong Kong now that China has eliminated a whole host of due process rights for those criminally accused, including the right to trial by jury.
References and Resources:
- Hong Kong’s Fair Trial Rules Are Routinely Ignored – and No Offender Is Safe by Tim Hamlett
- Tank Man: The Movie
- "Justice" without Juries: China
- The Missing American Jury webinar with Professor Suja Thomas
- Support FIJA with your donation—THANK YOU!
We talk with juror rights educator Keith Wood about his recent victory in the Michigan Supreme Court, which overturned his false "jury tampering" conviction for sharing FIJA brochures outside the Mecosta County Courthouse. Then we hear from Clark Neily of the Cato Institute about how this case unfolded and what are its implications for future juror rights outreach.
Learn more:
- Keith Wood case file on the FIJA website
- Cato Institute
We recorded this interview back in September of 2019. The world was then witnessing massive, historic protests in Hong Kong against an extradition bill that would have made it far easier for China to take accused people out of Hong Kong and its far more protective legal system and try them in mainland China.
In June of 2020, China escalated the extradition issue, passing a law that effectively allows China free reign to arrest anyone in Hong Kong, extradite them to mainland China without recourse, and deny them both trial by jury and even a trial of any sort that is public. With the recent arrest of Hong Kong entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, I thought it was a good time to stop trying to improve the audio quality and just get this podcast published.
My guest in this episode is Lily Tang Williams. Lily was born just before the Cultural Revolution in China, and grew up there during the rule of Chairman Mao. At the age of 17 she left home in Chengdu and traveled across the country to Shanghai to attend law school at Fudan University. After graduation, Lily became a faculty member of the law school at Fudan University.
Her experiences in China led her to immigrate to the United States and become an American citizen and businesswoman. She is currently an activist, educator, and professional speaker who shares her stories and experiences with the goal of promoting individual rights and liberty and defending the United States Constitution. She and I sat down to discuss the Chinese legal system and how it compares to our jury system here in the United States.
You can learn more about Lily or contact her through the following sites:
- Lily4Liberty on Facebook
- @lily4liberty on Twitter
- Lily Tang Williams on Instagram
- Lily Tang Williams on YouTube
2020 marks the 100 years after the 18th Amendment went into effect implementing alcohol prohibition nationwide. It survived less than 14 years before it was repealed.
In the meantime, jurors were hard at work protecting their neighbors via jurors' right of jury nullification. We share with you some funny historic cases FIJA has documented through our extensive research. Hear about the many dedicated jurors who protected their peaceful neighbors from unjust convictions and made Prohibition unenforceable by drinking the evidence and more!
Our guest is Catherine Bernard, criminal defense attorney and founder of Spartacus Legal. Catherine gives us a glimpse into how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting our right to trial by jury.
Resources:
- Catherine Bernard on Facebook
- Bernard & Johnson, LLC
We have our first guest in this episode—Will Snowden, founder of The Juror Project in New Orleans. Will discusses why he founded The Juror Project and what it does, the importance of all kinds of jury diversity to delivering just verdicts, discriminatory practices in jury selection, and what we can do to push back against those practices that undermine our right to trial by jury.
Resources:
- The Juror Project website
- The Juror Project on Instagram
- Vera Institute of Justice
- Flowers v. Mississippi
- Foster v. Chatman
- Batson v. Kentucky
We dive right into the podcast by focusing on the heart of FIJA's mission: ensuring that everyone is fully informed of their right, when serving on a jury, to judge the law as well as the facts. In this nearly hour-long episode, Robert and Kirsten get into quite a bit of detail, complete with real-world examples of jury nullification in action.
Learn more about:
- jury nullification
- what to do if you are called for jury duty
A short episode introducing the Behind Closed Doors podcast, jury nullification and other topics that will be covered, the Fully Informed Jury Association, and your hosts Kirsten Tynan and Robert Anthony Peters.
Learn more about:
- jury nullification
- the Fully Informed Jury Association
- Robert Anthony Peters
- Tank Man, the movie
A brief trailer for Behind Closed Doors, a show focusing on how the American jury system is supposed to function, how it is being undermined, and why we need to restore the full protective role of the jury in our legal system. Presented by the Fully Informed Jury Association.