Woman ordered to serve Jury Duty for life!

[LaWanda]

Wow, I loved Jury Duty as well. I've only been called twice. Once 15 years ago (Served on the jury for trial) and was called just about a year ago in a family dispute that was settled before hitting trial.

This Judge definitely abused his powers.

 

[i.b.nora]

Brooklyn woman who presented herself as racist on jury questionnaire let off hook by judge
BY John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Thursday, April 7th 2011, 4:00 AM

"Juror 799 sat off by herself in the jury assembly room for most of Wednesday, calmly flipping through newspapers and a pamphlet entitled "A Guide to Continuing Your Education After Prison," until the judge sent a clerk and a deputy marshal to fetch her in the late afternoon.

He told her she was free to go, but that he would dock her $40-a-day juror pay. She didn't argue.

"The purpose of this order was to attempt to create some consequences or disincentive for people who intentionally obstruct the court's ability to empanel a fair and impartial jury," he said.

Garaufis offered her an escort to avoid a crowd of reporters waiting to grill her about her views."

 

[i.b.nora]

Judge Dismisses "Racist" Juror From Indefinite Jury Duty

"He explained his rationale for threatening the juror, an Asian woman in her 20s who said she works in the garment industry, with indefinite jury duty: "My ruling was not based in any way upon whether or not you held any racist views. It was apparent you did not tell the truth. You were the only juror who indicated that you had every form of bias imaginable. You were lying to the court in order to be excused.""

and

"She was freed to go, but Garaufis said he would dock her the $40-a-day juror pay, which she didn't argue with. Of course, it was inevitable his unusual punishment would not be upheld. For one, her obnoxious opinions were not inherently criminal: "She can't be punished for being a racist. You don't check the First Amendment at the courtroom door," said NYU Law Prof. Stephen Gillers. Two, as many commenters pointed out yesterday, Garaufis couldn't have kept her more than three days anyway. But most importantly, it wouldn't have lasted because Garaufis is a real softie, the kind of Judge who lends shirts to murder suspects."

 

[Nova]

I wonder if the judge actually had the power to keep her on jury duty indefinitely. (Contempt of court would be a different matter.) I was sworn in on a jury in L.A. where the defendant took a plea before the trial concluded. The judge made a speech thanking us for our service and saying the good thing was we had served our "one trial" and could now go home. (This was when service was two weeks or one trial.)

We happily returned to the jury waiting area where we were informed that a judge does not have the power to interfere with the jury-selection process, and that, because we had not gotten to the point of deliberations, the trial didn't count and we would have to continue to serve until our two weeks were up. (I won't describe the screaming and cursing that ensued.)

Of course, the law may be different in New York. Or maybe somebody quietly pointed out to the judge that he could jail the juror for contempt, but he didn't actually have the power to keep her on jury duty forever. So he made a show of letting her go.