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A prospective juror may be sent to jail for using a vulgar term to describe an accused kidnapper.
Stephen Caruso, 27, was in Manhattan State Supreme Court Thursday as a potential juror in the case of a defendant who allegedly got into a car in uptown Manhattan last year, put a gun to the driver's head, told him to drive away and demanded his wallet.
Wetzel found Caruso in contempt and set sentencing for July 18. Caruso, who lives on Sutton Place with his wife and babydaughter, faces up to $1,000 fine and/or 30 days in jail.
The judge hinted he planned to impose jail time. He was "very influenced," he said, by a colleague's case that suggested a fine "sometimes has no punitive value at all."
Legal experts Friday called the judge's actions inappropriate.
"It's understandable judges don't want people using that language in their courtroom," said civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel. "But people do have First Amendment rights to express themselves and shouldn't be held in contempt for that expression.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/nyc-juro0702,0,7664239.story?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2
Stephen Caruso, 27, was in Manhattan State Supreme Court Thursday as a potential juror in the case of a defendant who allegedly got into a car in uptown Manhattan last year, put a gun to the driver's head, told him to drive away and demanded his wallet.
Wetzel found Caruso in contempt and set sentencing for July 18. Caruso, who lives on Sutton Place with his wife and babydaughter, faces up to $1,000 fine and/or 30 days in jail.
The judge hinted he planned to impose jail time. He was "very influenced," he said, by a colleague's case that suggested a fine "sometimes has no punitive value at all."
Legal experts Friday called the judge's actions inappropriate.
"It's understandable judges don't want people using that language in their courtroom," said civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel. "But people do have First Amendment rights to express themselves and shouldn't be held in contempt for that expression.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/nyc-juro0702,0,7664239.story?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2