In May, an Alaskan jury found Greenpeace activists guilty of failing to comply with state environmental laws relating to oil spill contingency plans. The judge has now overturned the jury convictions because, it seems, he thinks they got it wrong. I’d be interested to hear from m’learned friends how common it is for a trial judge to dispense with this messy business of having 12 laymen weigh the evidence and come to a decision on it.