Re: jury nullification, jury veto, jury pardon

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ken Smith
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>Yardpilot wrote:
>
>> "Larry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ken Smith
>> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> > >
>> > >(Whether
>> > >Bush was busted for cocaine possession is debatable, but I tend to
>> > >accept the assertion as fact, given that the document which would
>> > >have indicated that fact has mysteriously been destroyed.)
>> >
>> > You accept it as true because the document that would prove it to be true
>> > has been destroyed?  What would you think if the document existed?!?!!
>>
>> The argument that "it must be true because there is no evidence" sounds very
>> much like a J. Edgar or J. Reno sort of spin. It is also the argument of a
>> great many conspiracy theorists.
>
>  It's a common application of the basic rules of evidence.  If you want
>to introduce the murder weapon, you have to show a chain of custody;

No you don't, not necessarily.  Learn the rules of evidence.

>if there was an opportunity for someone to have *tampered* with that
>evidence, it doesn't come in. 

Yes it does.  Problems with the chain of custody go to the weight of the
evidence, not its admissibility.

>And if there's evidence that someone had
>tampered with the evidence, we are properly permitted to make a host
>of negative inferences.

Evidence that someone tampered with something not in evidence?

Ken, let's say evidence X s not introduced into evidence.  It could be
that someone destroyed it.  But it could be that it just doesn't exist,
dumbass.

>  In Texas, IIRC, your driving record includes criminal convictions. So
>my question is: Why did George W. Bush need to have a new driver's
>license issued, if there wasn't evidence of a damning criminal conviction
>recorded there?

In no state that I know of new a new drivers LICENSE give you a new
driving RECORDS.  You can get a new license for any number of reasons -
you started wearing glasses, your address changed, you have passed the
test for a new class of vehicle, whatever.  But it's all tied to your old
license in the same record about you.