From the Erie Times News:
An Erie woman, dismayed that she had been picked to serve as a juror in a weapons case, audibly harrumphed the worst curse word of them all, then huffed and puffed her way to her seat in the jury box. Erie County President Judge Ernest J. DiSantis was having none of it. When apprised of the outburst by the lawyers on the case, DiSantis came to the courtroom and called the woman, Kathleen Port, in front of the bench.
Port was off the jury, for start, DiSantis said. “But we are not done,” he said. DiSantis held Port in contempt of court and fined her $500 for the improper behavior. “You are totally out of line,” he said….Jury service is a duty of citizenship, he said.
“It is inconvenient at times,” he said.
Good.
That’s one less juror who will go on ABC to prove that her vote was meaningless and that she had no idea what she was doing.
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Pointer: ABA Journal
Ethics Alarms 
That SHOULD make national news, with the reports being in whole hearted support of the judge.
She SHOULD be invited onto talk shows, only to have interviewers reiterate the sanctity and civic duty of the jury.
I will bring this up on my podcast. Not “national news” but it is available worldwide 😉
Sweet!
I’m trying to figure out what the “worst curse word of them all” is.
Check the transcript of Truman’s response to atomic bomb nay-sayers. It might be one in there somewhere.
Hint: it rhymes with truck.
Check the transcript of Truman’s response to atomic bomb nay-sayers. It might be one in there somewhere.
Serving on a jury is nothing but thankless.. That’s why you seldom see professionals on them; they have something better to do than subject themselves to mind numbing testimony and sleazy lawyers.
Many people do exactly what this Erie woman did, but in a more subtle and effective way. They manage to be perceived negatively by both sets of lawyers.
Question (and related to my earlier post on “juror ethics.)” Who would you want to be on the ‘jury of your peers” if you got in trouble and ended up in court? A bunch of Medicaid mothers who make more on a jury than they do with their Federal support? A bunch of bored, unemployed, and ignorant people who don’t have the power or the excuse to get out of serving? Or a bunch of (however annoyed) people who have to leave good jobs for a short period of time to do their civic duty, may actually be able to think through the issues involved, and come to some consensus based on evidence/discussion/impressions, rather than just “harrumphing” and being resentful?
The old saw says that ‘no one likes a lawyer until he needs one.” The same is true of juries: As luck would have it I’ve never had to go to court, but believe me, the make-up of the jury would be as important to me as my own counsel.
(Just parenthetically: why would the OJ Simpson trial be moved out of his Brentwood — where the crime occurred — and into LA? What were they thinking? A jury of primarily black women, who are historically resentful of black “stars” marrying white women (over and over and over again, because they CAN), were certain NOT to have much sympathy for the beautiful, white woman who “stole” OJ from the black population. Sounds cruel, but really should have been considered by the prosecution…)
(Just parenthetically: why would the OJ Simpson trial be moved out of his Brentwood — where the crime occurred — and into LA? What were they thinking? A jury of primarily black women, who are historically resentful of black “stars” marrying white women (over and over and over again, because they CAN), were certain NOT to have much sympathy for the beautiful, white woman who “stole” OJ from the black population. Sounds cruel, but really should have been considered by the prosecution…)
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I’m just going on memory here but I seem to recall the defense wanted the trial moved to a more diverse area, just so they could have unsophisticated black jurors who would: 1. Be in awe of OJ’s star status, 2. Totally distrust the police, 3. Be unable to understand complicated DNA evidence.
A former LA prosecutor and author, Vincent Bugliosi (of Manson Family fame) wrote a book about the reasons OJ escaped conviction:
I was brought in to serve as a juror once. but struck for cause. Maybe being a public defender had something to wit it. Or maybe it was because I knew the prosecutors, the defense counsel, the defendant, the baliff, the court clerk, the judge, and the court reporter, as well as three other members of the jury.
I loved being a juror on a med-mal case. Ended up as the foreman, and running a seminar about the difference between “guilt” and “liability.” It was a smart jury (as I said, they made me foreman so they obviously were perceptive) and I learned a lot.
We really stuck it to the plaintiff.
I served as forewoman a few years back on a rape case. Maybe just because it was an interesting case but all jurors took their jobs very seriously. There were 6 men and 6 women, 3 black and 3 white in each case. Not a true ‘jury of your peers’ (the defendant was an 18 year old black kid) but a great mix of the community.
As a side note – we found him not guilty but I will tell you one strong personality (I’m looking at myself here!) can really sway a jury. Not that this one needed a whole lot of direction (woman scorned type case) but if I were an attorney interviewing potential jurors I would figure out questions that might give a tell-tale sign of this. And then use it to my advantage of course!
Interesting fact about being the foreperson of a jury (or at least with this judge) you are actually able to tell the judge what time you would like court to start (within reason I’m sure). We had jurors that really needed a 30 minute (might have even been 60, I can’t remember now) later start time. I mentioned it to the judge and he basically told me you’re the boss, the court works for the jury. I have no idea if this is true in all courts or if it was just how this judge conducted his courtroom but he really made us all feel important.
I’d love to serve on a Jury- but from what I’ve heard from friends in my field, scientists (and others in fields heavily biased towards critical thinking and probability) tend to get booted. Turns out both sets of lawyers usually have a vested interest in not having someone actually ponder the question “What are the odds that this just HAPPENED to be the case” and actually say “Pretty good, really…”
I got on because I was working for the plaintiff’s bar, so the plaintiff’s lawyer let me on, and the defendant had the stronger case, and, as the defense lawyer told me later, he gambled that I would explain it to the rest of the jury. And that’s exactly what happened.
What are the criteria or conditions that determine whether a particular case will be tried before a jury, versus a “bench trial?” I testified at a bench trial long ago. Can a judge decide unilaterally that a certain case is not suitable for trying before a jury?
In a criminal trial, the defendant can waive a jury trial and leave it to the judge. Otherwise, there is an absolute right to trial by jury.
In Virginia, the jury not only determines the guilty-not guilty verdict, but if it finds someone guilty, it also determines (although the official description is “recommends”) the punishment. Since this normally involves active jail time–a jury cannot suspend a sentence or even recommend that a stence be suspended–and since normally the judges won’t suspend any of a recommeded sentence, even if they had would have done so in a non-jury trial, most felony cases in Virginia are tried by a judge and not by a jury. [Look at it as admionistrative punishmnet for exercising a constitutional right. ] There was a case in Hampton, Virginia acouple of years ago involving 3 defendants–all equally culpable. Two of them went with the judge and got relatively short sentences. The third went with a jury, which recommended an incredibly lengthy sentence. The judge wouldn’t suspend any of it.
Knowing the judge didn’t get me out of jury service when I wasin college. I had a good time sitting on a one day civil suit seeking additional money for knee, neck, and shoulder injuries after a car accident. I was called again when I was 30, and looking forward to it, but the case I was up for was a civil suit seeking additional money for knee, neck, and shoulder injuries after a car accident. One of the voir dire questions was about prior jury service, and I could see the plaintiff’s attorney not very happy with that. Nor was she happy with my own prior experience with knee (double meniscus tear, 2 mcl sprains, and a patellar tendon sprain), neck (compression injury), and shoulder (separated) injuries. I’m guessing she had lots of smoke to blow.
Apparently, in some areas of FL, such as the county I live in, it is often possible to seat a very good jury.
The reason why is there are a lot of newly retired people who are bored and look at it as a chance to get out and be of use again.
At least that is what our local news tells us.
Sorry Jack, I have no idea why that giant pic of the book posted.
Maybe you are Vincent Bugliosi and shamelessly self promoting via a screen name?
Just kidding.
If I was really him I would probably have much better arguments than what I’ve posted thus far. Haha
It is a good book, though.
Let’s hear it for the judge! A million years ago when I was in school we took a field trip to the courthouse to sit in a courtroom and watch the proceedings. I was awestruck by the judge. A man in the galley had a hat on and the judge told him to remove it, twice – both times he was ignored. The third time the judge gave the man a lecture about proper respect for the court and then told him if he didn’t remove his hat he would find him in contempt and fine him and if he still refused to comply he would have him put in jail. I love a judge that has control of his courtroom.
Do schools still do that? What a great way to leave an impression of the power of the courts on young minds.
Kimberly, my school did that as well but it was also many moons ago and was part of a history course called “Crime and Punishment”.
They also took us on a tour of two prisons.
One was some old, nasty state prison on the outskirts of Philadelphia and the other was the Federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, PA.
Made a huge impression on me.
I was a young woman raised in a fairly strict household so there wasn’t much chance I was going to suddenly start leading a criminal life, anyway.
But seeing people locked up like that…it sealed the deal.
Love it! I often say the updated version of this field trip should include a trip across the street (I live in Cincinnati) to the Justice Center. I really believe the ‘Scared Straight’ program would work for many young people – not all, but many.
Very interesting that your trip included the prisons and it was years ago . . . I would love to see the statistics of crimes committed by individuals that were involved in this type field trip.
I have been called to jury duty once in my life. At least to this point. Back in the ’80’s my hubby was called every 6 months, picked every time and enjoyed the battering back and forth of the defense lawyers and prosecution. After, seriously, 5 years of serving on juries, local lawyers would call asking him if he would give them a “juror opinion” on cases that were scheduled to go before the court. He enjoyed “helping out” until he found out some lawyers pay for “expert opinions”. He felt he was an expert on presentations. The last court case he was summoned was a murder case where a young black male killed his young black girlfriend by stabbing her over 80 times with a knife. As questioning began to the jury pool the defendant looked sideways at hubby with a look that said “if you are picked and I go to prison I will make sure you die”. With that look, hubby told the court “I do believe in the death penalty”….he was excused and has never been summoned since. Respect to the court, the judge and the orders of the court mean inside and outside of the courtroom. Showing such disrespect shows the lack of proper class of manners and good that a judge would make someone pay for that lack of class. I think the fine was not enough.
“Dingleberries!”
At least this was one judge who understood the concept of civic duty.