JUNEAU — The Alaska Department of Law has serious concerns about a bill that would legally allow defendants to question the merits of a law and urge juries to vote not guilty, even if evidence says otherwise.

The House Judiciary Committee held a short hearing Wednesday on North Pole Republican Rep. Tammie Wilson’s bill to put jury nullification, the ability of a jury to vote on whether they feel a law itself is right, into law.

The bill would specifically allow the defendant to argue the merits of the law in court, bring in evidence to argue the merits of the law and urge jurors to not find him or her guilty. The bill also would bar jurors from being dismissed if they believe in jury nullification.

Annie Carpeneti of the Department of Law’s criminal division said she felt the bill would create for unfair trials.

“What we would find is allowing the jury to disregard the court’s rules of evidence would result in trials that are not very orderly and not very fair,” she said.

“It allows the jury instructed that they may disregard the law given to the judge and to all of us by the people who make the law,” she said. “It allows the defendant to ignore the rules of evidence, which were written to make a trial as fair as possible.”

Wilson said the bill was a critical check on a government, allowing the people to judge laws.

Proponents of jury nullification say it’s an inherent right of the jurors to judge laws, but advocating for jury nullification directly to active jurors can land advocates with jury tampering charges.

Carpeneti’s testimony was the only heard during the abbreviated hearing Wednesday, which lasted less than seven minutes. With the final days of session, the committee is focusing much of its time on the Senate’s crime and corrections reform bill.

Committee Chairman Rep. Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, said he would be open to hearing more testimony on the bill at its next hearing.

“We’ve got some fun discussions ahead,” he said.

The next hearing on the bill has not been scheduled.

Contact staff writer Matt Buxton at 459-7544. Follow him on Twitter: @FDNMpolitics.