Juror No. 4 Speaks

The most famous juror ever, Ruth Barrett Jordan, is working her PR machine: Chatting with Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin and sitting for an interview to air on 60 Minutes II tonight, all in order to tell her side of the story. Which is that she's not crazy, not rich, never made the okay sign, never flirted with Dennis Kozlowski (ew). Her case for being a normal "Just like you or your grandmother" New Yorker:
- Takes advantage of senior citizen's half fare on the subway
- Lives in a rent-stabilized apartment
- Does tip apartment building employees during the holidays
- Is opinionated
Jordan also puts the screws to the prosecution's crappy presentation. In retrospect, Gothamist is mad at the prosecution for not doing a good job - they better do it right next time around. And upon closer look, maybe Jordan should be played by Elaine Stritch.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 7, 2004 1:53 PM

Comments [rss]

Hoyt Pollard

Tyco executives did not "make lots of money." They stole lots of money. And Kozlowski should be thrown in prison for hiring Jimmy Buffet perform at his wife's birthday party.

duh

"Witch Hunter does a great job of illustrating my point, Tyco (or insert other famous/rich defendent recently) execs made lots of money, so they *must* have been guilty."

exactly true. jon is obviously a morally bankrupt (and therefore guilty) corp exec. to arguer otherwise.

move along now, nothing more to see here.

rentman

Don't you mean "rent controlled" instead of "rent stabilized"?

Rent "stabilized" apartments aren't that uncommon; there are a few million of them. A "stabilized" building has these attributes:

- 6 or more units

- Built before 1974

- Is not a condo or co-opped building

- Monthly rent under $2000

The rent "controlled" apartments are the rare jewels that I think you may have been talking about; there are only about 50,000 units left. Those "controlled" apartments are usually occupied by an older person and often have amazingly low rents.

Click here to see if your building is rent stablized.

The difference between rent controlled and rent stabilized.

Jon

Witch Hunter does a great job of illustrating my point, Tyco (or insert other famous/rich defendent recently) execs made lots of money, so they *must* have been guilty. "Burn then at the stake, burn them at the state..."

Justice in this country is indeed only as good as you can afford - it is an unfortunate state of the system, however, convicting someone simply because it's fashionable to "get the rich executives" is as bad as some one getting convicted because they cannot afford decent council.

My original point was, and still is, that it takes significant courage to stand for what you believe in the jury room against all sorts of tangential "burn the defendent at the stake" peer pressure. If anything, the ability for Juror #4 to have stood her ground inspires a bit more confidence in the jury system.

Witch Hunter

"States are imposing moratoriums on the death penalty because studies show that juries wrongfully convict and while it's sad the Tyco execs. can afford a good defense (while capital defendants often cannot) at least it makes the point."

It makes the point that the rich can get away with robbery, while the poor are allowed to stay in jail and perhaps die. Great precedent!

Just like the O.J. trial! If you're rich enough, you can get away with murder! Hooray for the criminal justice system!

Sean

I fairly agree with Jon on this. I call it Corporate McCarthyism, but it's the same thing really: the kid in the class who is not of the moment is prejudged. The public wants blood.

In my own opinion, (based on the newspaper reports), there appears to be a fairly strong case against these Tyco execs., but I wasn't on the jury and I'm happy somebody who was took the prosecution to task for the right reasons, lest innocent people are jailed. States are imposing moratoriums on the death penalty because studies show that juries wrongfully convict and while it's sad the Tyco execs. can afford a good defense (while capital defendants often cannot) at least it makes the point.

Witch Hunter

Coporate witch hunting? Tyco execs clearly broke the law and screwed their employees and shareholders. This juror was cearly nuts.

Doug

Is it me or is being on a jury this season's reality tv. I worry about these people opting to be on a jury to further their careers (e.g. TV, book deals, etc.)

Casting Director: So Mrs' Stritch, I see you served on the Tyco case. How will that help you play the role of Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Stritch: Did you see the way I flicked my hair, as if to signal "OK" to the defense. I had them all fooled...now that's acting.

Would you want Amorosa serving on your jury?

King Hippo

right, and does living in a rent stabilized apartment automatically disqualify her from affluence? Couldn't it just mean that she's well connected?

Kojak

A Rent Stabilized Apartment . . . On the Upper East Side. Ditto

lia

Lives in a rent-stabilized apartment

Surely that's reason enough for most people to hate her?

tien

doesn't it look like this is what happened in the photo?

juror #4 to rather: "what do you say we ditch this camera crew and head over to that hotel across the street?"

rather to off screen producer: "can you believe this woman? first kozlowski, now me?!?"