Monday Links
Fulton Street. Photo by Paul. In Ambitious Assault on Brooklyn Drug Trade, Limited Victory [NY Times] Who Was J. J. Byrne, and Why is a Park Named for Him? [NY Times] Charlie Sahadi Talks About the Future of His Biz [NY Times] Budget Practice Trips Quinn, a Backer of Openness [NY Times] Across the Globe,…
Fulton Street. Photo by Paul.
In Ambitious Assault on Brooklyn Drug Trade, Limited Victory [NY Times]
Who Was J. J. Byrne, and Why is a Park Named for Him? [NY Times]
Charlie Sahadi Talks About the Future of His Biz [NY Times]
Budget Practice Trips Quinn, a Backer of Openness [NY Times]
Across the Globe, Hints of More Perils in Housing [NY Times]
Planners Mull Next Steps for NYC Streets [NY Times]
Congestion Pricing May Be Dead in Albany [NY Sun]
BJ’s Signs Lease for Sitt’s Bensonhurst Mall [NY Post]
Toxin Turns Up in School Buildings [NY Daily News]
Is Marty’s Wife an Artful Dodger? [NY Daily News]
Is Sunset Park Power Plant Green Enough? [Brooklyn Eagle]
Riverside Apts Garage, Rendered [Brooklyn Hts Blog]
9:07 and 9:30 you both are correct in your assumptions. The difference is the type of juries you worked with. I served on both. In 9:07 case he appeared with a grand jury, that is not charged with the responsibility of deciding guilt or innocence. They only have to decide whether there is enough evidence to send the person to trail. In 9:30 case, it was a trail jury which allowed you to hear more evidence and make a more educated decision. The danger in both cases is when people bring their “cultural”, not to be confused with their “racial” prejudices into the jury room. Honestly, I think people are separated more culturally than racially. We are just to stupid to know the differnce. But, I do believe that people should not be afraid to support our judicial system after it is clear that a person has committed a crime not just against an individual, but against the people of brooklyn. If we teach our children to look at their role in society in that way it will change.
Interesting post, 9:07. I have seen this mentality at work quite often and feel sad and frustrated that people cannot seem to make the connection between dismissing cases and releasing dangerous criminals back into the community. This typically means that the most disenfranchised people will wind up bearing the brunt of the result.
Having said that, my jury experience has been the opposite. I served nine days on a murder case in the early 90s. While the jury was racially mixed, I noticed that the African-American jurors were the most vocal about needing to stop crime and assumed the defendants (both black) guilty from the start. In the end, the case was dismissed because the key witness refused to testify.
Either way, your central point stands: jurors have to set aside their emotions and follow procedures set forth by the court.
Read the story about the drug trade in the times. I recently served on a grand jury panel in brooklyn. What I discovered is many people serving are very suspicious of the police and their tactics of prosecution. Most have or know someone who has, a person involved in a crime with drugs. We spent most of our time discussing the tactics of the police rather than the crime itself. There was agreement that in-deed a crime was committed, but the obsession with conspiracy theories and over aggressive police tactics over shadowed people judgements. Many criminals were not indicted despite overwhelming evidence against them. It got so bad that prosecutors began removing cases from our room. There were days that we sat around and just read the paper. What the police and prosecutors of this town need to focus on as a crime reducing tactic is to educate the public about their responsibility to their communities. A suspect being tried by his/her peers is not working because often the peers are sympathetic to the reasons of the crime. It is like trying to get a guilty verdict against a klansman from a jury in the old south. People are not making the connection with these criminals being released back onto their street corners. It’s like they believe crime is being committed by someone else, not their sons and daughters. And while the police and the prosecutors at the end of the day drive off to suffolk and westchester county, we the people of brooklyn and left with our high crime rates and conspiracy theories. And before anyone accuse me of being a white racist I just wanna set the record straight and say I use to be a long time resident of Fort Greene projects.