Back in 2015, Keith Wood was arrested after he had been handing out fliers on a public sidewalk near a Michigan county courthouse, that detailed information about jury nullification.

On the day that Wood had been handing out the fliers, there was a jury being selected for a certain trial but Wood had no personal stake in that trial, and that case was eventually resolved without any jury ever being sat. No jury was ever needed for that case, in other words.

Since handing out fliers on a public sidewalk, you might assume that you should have some expectation that you'd be able to exercise what should be Constitutionally-protected (natural rights) rights, like free speech, but unfortunately for Wood that wasn't the case.

Wood happens to be a former pastor, he's a father of 8 children, and is the sole breadwinner for his family.

He had initially been charged with a 5 year felony for his actions; receiving allegations that he was attempting to obstruct justice and tamper with a jury.

The legal fight is still ongoing, despite him being previous found guilty and receiving a charge of several weekends in jail, followed by fines and probation. Prior to this incident, Wood had no criminal record.

His bond was set for $150k, and like Wood's attorney suggested, he didn't seem to be a particular fight risk, so that high bond price only further signals the injustice in how the state has dealt with this matter. His defense attorney has previously suggested that because he received such a bond that it would have a chilling effect on people, likely to persuade others from speaking out in a public forum in a similar manner. Wood was released after paying 10 percent of that $150k.

The defense has tried to argue that Wood was only trying to exercise his free speech, attempting to educate the public about the history of jury nullification in the country. And Wood had allegedly ordered the pamphlets directly from the Fully Informed Jury Association. His defense team continues to fight and seek justice over this incident.

Wood is now receiving support from organizations across the political spectrum, including the ACLU, the Fully Informed Jury Association, and the Cato Institute.

Each of those organizations has recently filed briefs with the Court of Appeals in support of his appeal.

The Cato Institute has affirmed that they see the decision to convict Wood over his actions as a direct attack against the First Amendment. He had been peacefully passing out fliers, in a public forum, on a topic that involves everyone who has the potential to ever be selected for jury duty. Could you imagine why anyone might not want a jury to be fully informed about their duties, rights, and or possible independence to decide not only the facts of the case but whether or not the law is justly applied or just itself?

Many see the actions of the state in this instance as content-based speech regulation, because he could have been handing out pamphlets about anything else and wouldn't have received such a response to it.

The ACLU further pressed that if the state had the ability to regulate and restrict in speech in this way, punishing people who talk about things they simply don't agree with or don't want people to know about, then there aren't really any First Amendment rights that the people can speak of.

According to the Fully Informed Jury Association, they say that the actions of the state in this matter to convict Wood over handing out jury nullification pamphlets, are nothing short of a stain on the legal history of the state. And that there has been a gross miscarriage of justice.

They have also argued that none of the information about jury nullification that was detailed in the fliers Wood had been handing out, has been challenged as being untrue.

At this time, the case is still on appeal.

Pics:
Pixabay

Sources:
http://fox17online.com/2018/04/09/aclu-cato-institute-fully-informed-jury-association-support-keith-woods-court-of-appeals-filing/
http://www.oaoa.com/editorial/columns/opinion_columnist/article_9d380010-4743-11e8-8746-776dfe38ac5f.html
https://bit.ly/2HZCYay
http://fox17online.com/2017/07/21/man-to-be-sentenced-friday-for-passing-out-pamphlets-outside-courthouse/
https://www.rt.com/usa/397170-mecosta-keith-wood-sentence/
http://fox17online.com/2018/02/02/jury-tampering-conviction-upheld-for-man-who-passed-out-fliers-on-sidewalk/