Jurors Can't Have Potty Mouths

The New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan sounds like a tough place. Especially since a judge just charged a potential juror with contempt after the juror called a suspect a "scumbug." Stephen Caruso was being interviewed to be a juror in a kidnapping case, and Caruso told the court, "I have been held up three times at gunpoint," (the defendant used a fake gun to threaten his victim) and when asked if he would convict the defendant, he add, "I am already looking at him; I think he is a scumbag." Boom! Judge William A. Wetzel held Caruso in contempt of court, saying, "That is an insult not only to him, but to the other people in the room and me...I have interviewed upwards of 15,000 prospective jurors and have never seen such an inappropriate, vulgar, contemptuous occurrence." The Post notes that Caruso's lawyer thinks the judge might be biased against Wall Streeters, as Judge Wetzel asked Caruso if he was a "stockbroker or investment banker?" Caruso is, in fact, a financial planner, and he tells the Times, "I'm a little disillusioned with the whole legal process right now. I feel like I'm being punished for being honest," blaming his words on his emotional feelings about crime - he's been robbed twice (in New Orleans) and was held up by a gunman in a bus.

Hmm, scumbag is definitely a not-nice word, but Gothamist can't say for sure if we would have had the sense to edit ourselves at jury duty. Weren't judges supposed to make jury duty nicer for people?

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By Jen Chung in News on July 6, 2005 1:33 PM

Comments [rss]

Samantha T

Our jury system means nothing without evenhanded jurors. The judge was right to punish this guy. I love how the dude's lawyer is alleging bias on the judge's part - I guess his Honor doesn't like the looks of those "scumbag" bankers, huh?

hijiki

um yeah, 30 days in jail for saying 'scumbag' seems appropriate... for north korea.

areacode212

I wonder if he was just trying to put on some kind of Punisher-like persona for the judge, so he could get out of jury duty.

Johnie

Bah.. Have the judge spend a day on the trading floor and he'll see that "scumbag" is probably the cleanest word he'll hear all day...

dhex

yes, indeed. that'll show him!

i mean, that's grounds for dismissal from the jury - which he clearly should not be sitting on - but being fined for calling someone a scumbag is a bit much. being robbed a few times will do that to ya.

Mike B.

The courtroom is a very bad place to use insulting language. A very, very, very bad place. Intelligent people (and people who have ever watched Judge Judy) understand this.

I don't especially care whether idiots get the book thrown at them. This one wasn't even provoked; he just concluded the defendant was guilty by virtue of having been accused, passed moral judgment and said it out loud. Maybe after thirty days he won't shoot his fool mouth off anymore.

NO

Oh who hasn't gotten robbed in New Orleans.

Captain Midnight

Your Honor, if I may approach the bench: Go **** yourself and get off your ******* soapbox. Judges like you are nothing but a bunch of ******** who get off on power trips. Come out onto the streets and see if your high and mighty positions mean ****.

Barry Popik

Personally, I think the judge was wrong for asking this juror's honest opinion, and then assessing penalties based on just one offensive/objectionable word.

...

I can't find my "scumbag" notes right now, but it dates from the 1920s and was widely used in New York City. In Icelandic slang, a "scumbag" is a diaper. The late Columbia professor Allen Walker Read found "scumbag" in his classic research on American graffiti.