Word: juror
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Anxiously awaiting what I honestly thought would be a great experience, I reported to 111 Center Street, the New York Supreme Court, at 9 a.m. sharp one muggy Monday. After passing through security, I was told to join the other "prospective jurors" in the "Juror Assembly Room"--it was a barn, and we were crammed in like so many cattle. The lady next to me was reading "Lust in the Desert" and the gentleman on my other side, well, he had the right idea--he was out cold...
...those two questions plus the fact that both of my parents are lawyers was enough to have me booted off the panel. Of course, I can't be sure why I was dismissed, because under the "peremptory challenge" rule, lawyers can simply get rid of a certain number of jurors without showing cause. In any event, so ended my brief experience as a juror in a gun possession case...
After my first panel experience, I was never called again. I did a lot of reading and generally sweated away for two more days until, at last, freedom was mine. In the "New York State Juror's Manual," which we each received, the conclusion reads: "Whether or not you are selected to serve on a case during your term of service, by your presence, availability and willingness to serve, you are making an invaluable contribution to the administration of justice." And that, of course, makes all the difference...
...Brentwood mansion they came: a sacked juror, a jailbird lawyer and assorted other apostles of O.J. SIMPSON, all for a black-tie dinner to oppose domestic violence and, not least, to rub elbows with the Juice. With security provided by the Nation of Islam, the night was one of image repair for America's most dubiously innocent man. Attorney F. Lee Bailey, fresh from the slammer, pronounced his own jail stay "not so great." Simpson pal and chauffeur A.C. Cowlings seemed proud when a guest praised his driving. Outside Simpson's gates protesters clamored, but inside, Simpson charmed the antiviolence...
...Hollywoody, approach. But in both works, details of the lawyers' behind-the-scenes machinations remain strangely compelling. Darden describes a jaunt to the Bahamas, where he unsuccessfully pursued a tip that Simpson was planning to flee there the day of the Bronco chase, and both writers float rumors that juror Francine Florio-Bunten was dismissed under suspicious circumstances. Shapiro also reveals that the defense team offered to have Simpson take a lie detector test at the outset, knowing full well that the prosecution would never agree to admit the results, whatever they were, into evidence. And he describes the moment...