Perhaps the most notable trial in the history of jury nullification is that of William Penn and William Mead, Quaker Englishmen who were arrested for publicly preaching the Quaker religion in Gracechurch Street in London in violation of England's Conventicle Act. Rather than deliver Guilty verdicts in response to their fairly obvious violations of the law, their jurors were imprisoned, and had food, water, tobacco, and sanitary facilities withheld from them when they repeatedly refused to convict. An historic transcript of this dramatic case from 1670 survives to this day, and we are adapting it into a theatrical play which will be provided by the Fully Informed Jury Association free of charge to community theaters and schools around the country as an educational outreach program.
Before we do that, though, we need your help! Please join Robert Anthony Peters and Kirsten Tynan for a workshop in which the draft play is read for the first time in public, and provide us with your feedback as to which aspects of it work and which don't, and how to improve it for optimal appeal to general public audiences. As this will take place just days after the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which Penn passionately cited in protection of his and his jurors' rights, this is also a very fitting way to commemorate eight centuries of jurors' rights! To thank you for your help, we'll be giving away a Liberty Swag Bag to one lucky winner at the end of the session!
