What is the test for a jury that disregards the law and reaches a verdict based upon personal views and beliefs?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Williams, 106 Cal.Rptr.2d 295, 21 P.3d 1209, 25 Cal.4th 441 (Cal. 2001):

As suggested by the majority in People v. Sanchez, supra, 58 Cal.App.4th 1435, 69 Cal.Rptr.2d 16, it is important not to encourage or glorify the jury's power to disregard the law. While that power has, on some occasions, achieved just results, it also has led to verdicts based upon bigotry and racism.9 A jury that disregards the law and, instead, reaches a verdict based upon the personal views and beliefs of the jurors violates one of our nation's most basic precepts: that we are "a government of laws and not men." (Reynolds v. Sims (1964) 377 U.S. 533, 568, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506.)

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