Voir (Not So) Dire

Sunday was spent in Connecticut…took the train over but caught a ride back to NYC with a team member.  Very interesting chats on the way home.  S got home a few minutes before me and spent a ton of time in the shower scrubbing the dirt from his canoe/camping weekend off.  We hung out for a bit, then I did work the rest of the night – ugh.  I was trying to get everything done before I had to report to Jury Duty the next morning, and was just about ready to go to sleep (sending out some large files that were taking awhile to clear inbox) when a major fire drill came in just past 4am.  Yuck.  Covered what I could, went to sleep, woke up and headed downtown to Centre Street.  I don’t get down to this area very much so a bit of a thrill to come upon 60 Centre Street, which will be familiar to any Law & Order fans out there:

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crimes and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.  These are their stories.

(Bum-bum!)

The recorded message when I called to check in the night before had said there was wifi in the building, but I was skeptical.  There was a longish line for security to get into the building (complete with some Occupy folks telling potential jurors about their personal legal woes, their opinion that "stop and frisk" actions are illegal, and that we should find everyone innocent.  Ha.)  I went up to the juror waiting room and just as they’d said, wifi!   I was very impressed.  They ran through some paperwork things and I just sat and did work until we were called into a courtroom for selection.

This was a large room of about 70 people, and a judge swore us in, then spoke to us to give an overview of the trial and timeframe.  I had actually heard about this case a while back, it was a pretty sensational story last year of a hot young model bashing his older lover’s head in during an argument, then cutting off his testicles.  I was impressed by the judge, he was very well spoken with an aura of gravitas.  Guy was claiming not guilty by reason of insanity, but they had 10 days of just witness testimony so probably a pretty long trial.  They then asked anyone who had any reason they felt they could not participate on this trial to raise their hands, I raised my hand along with about half the people in the room and we were directed out into the hallway.  After a while a court officer directed us back to the jury room and we waited until we were excused for lunch.  A two hour lunch…I made good use of it by finally resolving the mess that came up at 4am that morning.  I had a diet coke and a drake’s coffeecake for lunch, and both were only 80 cents, haven’t seen vending machine prices that low in years – nice!

After the lunch break most of the folks in the room got called to another criminal trial across the street, leaving around 20 of us.  The smaller group of us got called in for a civil trial.  This one was also interesting, I was a little worried because I knew they’d never take me for a criminal trial, but civil I wasn’t sure about.  We got sworn in, then this case was presented by the two lawyers, one for the plaintiff and one for the defendant.  The defense lawyer was a typical slick Long Island type, and the plaintiff’s counsel was a rumpled looking guy, but you could tell that was part of his schtick too.  The case was a dispute between two dentists, one turned attorney who now did malpractice law against other dentists.  This attorney sued the practicing dentist, Dr. Jerry Lynn, over 50 times until one day Lynn supposedly called him up, told him to stop suing him, and then threatened his life.  The dentist disputed that such a threat was made, and suit was for damages of emotional pain and suffering due to the death threat.  For this one we had to fill out a questionaire, they asked us questions, then asked if any of the first 8 of us had questions.  I asked what I thought was an obvious question, "If this was a legitimate death threat, why is this a civil matter and not a criminal one?"  The lawyers did NOT like that question…they hemmed and hawed until it was kind of obvious that there had been a criminal trial already, and said we were supposed to consider the civil suit separately and only think about whether we would be able to quantify monetary damages for pain and suffering due to the death threat.  They then both told the other potential jurors to disregard what I had said.  To me both parties sounded totally sleazy, and while it sounded like a short case, I didn’t really want any part of it.  Luckily they felt the same way and I was dismissed first, right at 4pm so I headed to the subway to meet S at work a bit early.

We walked over to the Todd English Food Courts at the Plaza Hotel – I had never been to this part of the iconic hotel.  We had a couple of beers, cheese plate, and risotto tater tots.  Everything was okay, but to me it felt like a rip-off of the Food Hall at Harrods, only not as nice.  Super expensive too, if I went back I’d probably stick to the Oak Bar for drinks or Palm Court for brunch.  Then we went home, I fell asleep pretty early, and then went back downtown to my second day of Jury Duty.  

Tuesday was similar, but we didn’t need to be there until 9:30am.  No long line this time but I did see a man peeing a golden arc into a sewer grate.  Hope no unsuspecting subway patron was underneath. Inside was a much smaller group this time.  Mid-morning we got called into another criminal trial, about 30 potential jurors.  This was a smaller courtroom, with both sets of lawyers and the defendant there.  Another impressive-seeming judge, who outlined the case.  This guy, kind of hipsterish/mohawked totally normal looking dude, was accused of strangling two people at two different addresses, one sounded like a domestic violence thing but not sure who the other person was or what the context was.  (I think both people must have lived because strangulation was the only charge, but they weren’t in the courtroom.)  This judge asked the same question about anyone who felt they couldn’t serve for this case and several people raised their hands.  The first guy said he could only tell the judge privately, so they conferenced for a few minutes, then asked the rest of us to step out.  We filed back into the hallway, then came back in about 5 minutes later.  The next woman stood up and said she’d had first-hand experience of domestic violence and could not serve.  The judge asked for clarification and the woman said in a quavering voice, "I was a victim of domestic violence and after that, I absolutely couldn’t look anyone in the eye who is accused of that crime."  I felt really bad for her, very tough to stand up and share something so personal to a room of people.  Very intimidating.  She left and I was next.  

The judge asked me and I stated my name, then said, "I’m from a strong NYPD family, my father retired as a Detective First Grade after 42 years, and my brother took up his badge upon his retirement.  Given my background, I am extremely supportive of law enforcement and may have an ingrained bias against a person accused of a violent crime."  They had no questions for me, and I was dismissed.  I waited out in the hall and chatted a little with the girl who’d spoken about her abuse, I think she just needed someone to talk with and decompress a bit after such a tough situation.  Then several women came out at a time, I didn’t hear their statements but from their conversation it sounded like they had also been victims of domestic abuse.  Unlike the first girl, they kind of talked about it like it was no big deal but one mentioned her spouse had been sent away for 2 years for violence towards her, so it must have been fairly awful.  Tough women.  Another girl came out with tears in her eyes and sat down next to me.  I asked if she was okay and she just started talking.  She had been in a bad situation years ago but was now happy with a guy who treats her very well.  I thought that was really nice and was glad she was able to stay open to something good after being hurt like that previously.  Very sweet girl. 

After that were sent back to the jury room, then to lunch.  I met my colleague who had jury duty at another nearby building outside for lunch.  I had a swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on fresh wheat bread.  Much nicer than the vending machine lunch the day before!  After lunch we sat around until around 3pm, then picked up our proof of service letters, and were dismissed for the next six years.  I headed in to the office and did work until around 6pm.  Overall I was impressed by the process, I found it very well organized and was appreciative of the measures they’d taken to allow people to do work when appropriate during the waiting around times.  I found the cases interesting and while I don’t know that I would necessarily make a bad or impartial juror, but from everything I’ve heard they would never pick me given my family background so I figured I’d be up front about it so as not to waste anyone’s time.

After work S and I went grocery shopping while he finished the laundry.  We had tomato and mozzarella paninis with sliced cucumbers on the side.  I had two large glasses of wine and he finished off the bottle.  I did work until late, then woke up this morning feeling hungover.  I don’t think I am, I think it’s just lack of sleep lately.  The next few weeks are going to be tough but I am looking ahead to November when I am hoping for some downtime and relaxation.  

Randomly, I think this is probably the happiest entry you will ever read about waiting in lines, working around the clock, and Jury Duty.  I can imagine a few other diarists on here describing the exact same week and making it sound like the 4th circle of Hell.  It really wasn’t bad though, this is a good little life in general.

(Bum-Bum!)