The Michigan Supreme Court will review the case of a former pastor who was arrested for distributing information about juries on a public sidewalk.
Keith Wood was handing out “informational pamphlets” on the power of jurors to vote their conscience – as permitted by Michigan’s Criminal Jury Instructions – when he was ordered into a nearby courthouse and arrested, according to his legal representatives, the Kallman Legal Group.
The court also invited the Fully Informed Jury Association, the Cato Institute and the ACLU of Michigan to file arguments in the case, the legal team announced.
The state’s high court will address whether the prosecution of Wood violated his First Amendment right to free speech, whether it is possible to tamper with a jury with does not exist, whether a person is a juror before being chosen, and whether the prosecution was the result of unlawful government conduct.
“Mr. Wood believes that freedom of speech leads to more justice and more freedom, not less, and that citizens are competent to shape their own opinions without the ‘protection’ of government officials,” said David Kallman, who is representing Woods.
His briefing to the high court argues that judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials “must discharge their duties within the confines of our Constitution.”
“Citizens hold many differing political views, and they often hold them passionately. They may express those views even in ways that offend government officials. The price for our freedom is that we might be subjected to views that offend us.”
Also, the appeal argues Wood was charged with tampering with a jury that did not exist.
“There is no such crime in Michigan,” the appeal points out. “On the day in question, Mr. Wood had no interaction with a single person who was a ‘juror in any case.'”
The appeal argues the lower courts simply redefined the state’s jury tampering statute and applied it to Wood in violation of the First Amendment.