It’s not a final victory. But a defendant in a battle royale in Michigan over free speech, the rights of jurors to be fully informed about their rights and how courts operate has won a battle.
Keith Wood, convicted of “jury tampering” for handing out a common brochure that describes the rights and responsibilities of jurors in America, has been given permission to appeal his conviction.
The request was approved this week by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which relieves him of the obligation to spend weekends in jail and opens the door for his record to be cleared.
Wood was arrested for simply handing out informational pamphlets on a public sidewalk about the power of jurors to vote their conscience, according to his defenders, “as permitted by Michigan’s Criminal Jury Instructions.”
District court judges and prosecutors, including those who ordered him to shut up about juror rights and get