State v. Hatori

Opinion of the Court by

ACOBA, J.

We hold that a defendant in a criminal ease has no substantial right to a jury nullification instruction, that is, an instruction informing the jury that it may acquit a defendant contrary to the law given by the court and the evidence, or to the deletion of instructions which inform the jury that it must follow the law. Therefore we reject a claim to the contrary raised on appeal by Defendant-Appellant Randolph L. Hatori (Defendant).

We hold further that the legislature may without violating the equal protection clause, impose a greater statutory penalty on a…