Judge Dismisses Call for New Trial By "Undercover" Brooklyn Mom

A judge is not pleased with the 46-year-old Brooklyn mother who posed as a "sexy" 30-something to win the confidence of a juror who helped put away her son for 25 years to life. Yesterday Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus threw out a motion filed by Doreen Giuliano, who repeatedly smoked pot and drank wine with former juror Jason Allo, recording conversations which she says proves he lied during jury selection about knowing the defendants. Giuliano's son John Giuca was ultimately convicted, along with another young man, in the murder of a Fairfield college student in 2003 during a long night of partying in Ditmas Park.

In emphatically dismissing the motion for a new trial, Judge Marrus—who also adjudicated the original trial—wrote, "Rather than being a careful investigation into a meaningful report of juror misconduct, what took place here was a baseless, reckless disregard for the privacy of a juror, founded not upon the intention to exonerate her son, but upon the malicious intention of a convicted murderer's mother to discredit the verdict against her son." Giuliano later told her story to Vanity Fair (it's a fascinating read), which the judge seemed particularly peeved about: "Either her affidavit in support of this motion is materially inaccurate or the narrative in the Vanity Fair article is a complete fiction."

Marrus ultimately found no evidence that the Allo was biased, citing recordings secretly made by Giuliano in which he said, "The evidence was all there...I don't feel like I did anything wrong." Furthermore, Marrus wants the state Legislature and court system to investigate how the personal information of a juror can be exploited. (Giuliano had followed two other jurors before settling on Allo.) Judge Marrus writes in his decision [PDF], "Every juror who has served or will serve in a case should be alarmed by the conduct of the defendant's mother in this case. Years after rendering a verdict, any juror could be the subject of a 'sting' operation." Giuliano's methods aside, some of the transcripts from her conversations with Allo would seem to warrant a new trial, and her lawyers plan to appeal.