Surveillance video and witness testimony marked day of testimony in the trial of four lesbians who beat up a man in Greenwich Village last summer.
The victim, Dwayne Buckle, claims he was assaulted because he was straight (he did try to pick up one of the girls). The women claim self-defense, alleging that Buckle called them names and made rude remarks ("I'll f--- you straight, sweetheart"), spat on them, and threw a cigarette at them as well. Well, here's witness testimony, via the Post:
Alleged victim Dwayne Buckle had just shouted, "Calm down, woman," as the sapphic septet surrounded him on a Greenwich Village sidewalk last August, an eyewitness told a jury yesterday.
"She was like, 'I'm not a woman! I'm a n-! I'm a man!' " tattoo and graffiti artist Louis Barak testified of the only "dialogue" he could remember from the predawn beat-down at Sixth Avenue and West 4th Street.
"It stuck out in my mind, because it was pretty bizarre."
Barak added that Buckle did not attack them first and said he saw one woman "swipe" a knife at Buckle, who was beaten, kicked, and stabbed after a melee that was caught by a surveillance camera. Defense lawyers showed footage of Buckle waving "around a handful of his alleged attackers' hair extentions."
And in a side note: The Post also reports how a juror was booted off the panel:
The case is so unsettling that on the eve of opening statements, one juror asked for more information on what kind of "gang" was involved, telling the judge that while he was certain he would remain impartial, "I would want to know in order to protect my family."
Oddly, the concern prompted Justice Edward McLaughlin to complain that the juror, Bruce Nussbaum, apparently feared danger "from an organized group of violent lesbians" - and not only kicked him off the panel, but essentially banished him to purgatory for the duration of the trial.
Nussbaum, an assistant managing editor at Business Week magazine, must now sit in the courthouse's Central Jury Room from 9:45 a.m. until 4:45 p.m. every day court is in session as punishment - or face up to 30 days jail - because he "failed to reveal certain information" during jury selection, according to the judge's order against him.
The jettisoned juror declined to comment, except to say he has filed a complaint against the judge with the Commission on Judicial Conduct. The judge did not immediately return calls for comment.
Quick, Law & Order, pick up this plot!
