Watch Jacob Sullum Discuss Mandatory Minimums and the Oregon Standoff on Ron Paul's Show

In my Forbes column last week, I discussed the mandatory minimum sentences that inspired the protest in Burns, Oregon, attended by the men now occupying buildings at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Last Thursday I appeared on the Ron Paul Liberty Report to discuss the same subject, the broader problems with mandatory minimums, and the law enforcement response to the occupation. You can watch that interview below.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

How is it I didn't know Ron Paul has a show?

[Cdr Lytton]

Do he have a newsletter that one can subscribe to?

[Limpee Wiltstock]

I remember in Montana folks getting prosecuted for "jury tampering" for sending in letters to the local newspaper that mentioned jury nullification. Furthermore, it was standard for prosecutors to ask jurors in voire dire if they'd heard of jury nullification. An answer of "yes" was accepted by judges as sufficient cause for dismissing a juror.

It's also outrageous that jurors can be dismissed for being familiar with the law under which the accused is prosecuted, which seems typical throughout the country. I've also seen cases in which the portion of the law that the jurors were allowed to see was actually thoroughly rewritten by the judge and prosecutors, so that the jury was actually presented with a text invented for the case and not consistent with the law as actually written.