WASHINGTON - TelAve -- There seems to be an almost airtight criminal case against Luigi Mangione for the broad-daylight murder of UnitedHealthcare's chief executive Brian Thompson, but some are suggesting that Mangione and his attorney might be counting on "jury nullification" to defeat the prosecution.

They have the right idea but the wrong expected outcome, suggests public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

"JURY nullification" occurs when all jurors decide that a defendant who is clearly guilty should nevertheless not be convicted, whereas "JUROR nullification" occurs when even 1 (but not all) juror decides that  he will not vote to convict despite overwhelming evidence of guilt.

Jurors may refuse to vote "guilty" because they believe that the law is unfair or unreasonable, either in general or as applied in a specific situation, to send some kind of message to prosecutors and/or to the general public, because a conviction in a specific situation might seem unjust for some reason, to register strong discontent with the conduct of the prosecutor, because of public pressure for - or concern about - a finding of guilty, or for a myriad of other similar reasons.

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Most "not guilty" verdicts which appear to be the result of jury nullification involve very sympathetic or popular defendants such as former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and perhaps O.J. Simpson, and/or where the circumstances of the crime are factually unclear or morally uncertain such as with subway shooter Bernhard Goetz or George Zimmerman.

However, this brazen daylight killing on the streets of New York City seems to be an act of cold blooded murder by a spoiled rich kid who has everything, so its unlikely that 12 jurors would feel as moved to free him as in these other situations.

But the one thing which might be a saving grace for Mangione is that he is widely believed to have been fighting back against rapacious and often crooked health insurance companies; striking a blow, as some put it, for everyone who was denied coverage, often with tragic or even fatal results.

To keep that hope alive, Mangione's lawyer will have to refuse to concede - despite the overwhelming evidence and the illogic of trying to deny it -  that it was his client who shot  Thompson.

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This way a juror refusing to vote to convict because of sympathy for Mangione or for his cause will have a fig leaf to hide behind and defend his refusal; I'm not sure beyond any reasonable doubt, he can claim to the other jurors, his family and friends, or even to himself, suggests the law professor.

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf