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Supporters of a Wisconsin dairy farmer facing a criminal trial for selling raw milk hope they can turn up interest in jury nullification among residents of Sauk County who might be seated to hear his case.

As Rick Barrett reports in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a Washington-based group defending the farmer thinks the approach can work. In fact, a Minnesota farmer was recently acquitted of similar charges there, mostly likely because of jury nullification.

But jury nullification is always a dicey tactic. Lawyers can't openly ask juries to ignore the law, and judges' radar is usually pretty sensitive to veiled efforts to make that point. Federal court officials have been known to run off nullification advocates trying to present pamphlets to jurors as they enter and exit courthouses during trials.

While rare, nullification does come up in emotional cases like those involving anti-abortion activists, tax protesters and some drug cases -- but also in any case where the jury can be persuaded that to follow the law would be an injustice.

There's even a national organization devoted to the topic, the Fully Informed Jury Association. It believes juries should always be told, not just the law applicable to the case they're considering, but also that they have the power and authority to follow their conscience.

According to the FIJA website, the primary purpose of the jury is "to protect fellow citizens from tyrannical abuses of power by government."

It has been used for some high purposes, such as saving runaway slaves when they were charged in northern states, but also to clear whites of crimes against blacks in racist Southern communities last century.

No surprise that FIJA or its beliefs don't get a shout-out this month, which Wisconsin's court system recognizes as Juror Appreciation Month.