sarah in nyc

Yesterday was my last day of jury duty. In the morning we heard our last witness. Each of the lawyers then did their summation. We broke for lunch. Thank you New York City taxpayers for buying us lunch. My tuna wrap was delicious. After lunch we were given our charge by the judge. The judge really impressed me. He carefully explained the parameters of the law that we were expected to rule on. He explained that the job of the prosecution was to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, that is, a doubt that could be explained through reason. A gut feeling is not enough to either prove or disprove. We went into the jury room. I had been chosen to be the forewoman of the jury. I have been around enough social workers to know that before you do anything in a group we all need to introduce ourselves. We had one law to rule on--gun possession but that is made up three parts, one was that the fire-arm be operable, the second was that the firearm was in the defendant's possession--tha...

Given that I can’t legally talk about the case I’m sitting on and given that it is forbidden to take photos inside the court building, I am not about to break the law.   I can however show you pictures from the neighborhood. The courts themselves and the buildings in the area are full of notable details. This is a bigger view of the Tweed court house.   This branch of Modell’s Sporting Goods is fronted by a wonderful , but dirty colonnade.   The bank a block further east has the best doors. They didn’t stint with any of the details when they built this bank. There is a pair of these spectacular light fixtures flanking the entryway. This Art Deco light is in front of a Department of Health building. Friday afternoon there was some sort of a Korean cultural festival taking place in the park. The traditionally dressed dancers were enjoying the hip hop performance. I report back to the court tomorrow morning.

A few weeks ago I got that familiar summons to do jury duty. Today was the day.  I went downtown early this morning  and took this photo of the Tweed Courthouse before I reported for jury duty. The last couple of times I had jury duty I loved the officer of the court assigned to the jury room. He was outrageously funny.  He made the process  actually fun.  He must have retired and he now has a replacement. She hasn’t had as many years to hone her materials her predecessor did, but she has a similar dry wit.   They have updated the informational introductory video. I was sort of looking forward to seeing the giant shoulder pads   from the old video that was filmed at some point in the 1980’s.   The previous times I reported for jury duty the highlight of my experience was the beautiful speech made by the retired judge. In that speech he talked about how our judicial system is flawed, but it is the best and the most fair in the w...