Bill does his duty
‘Super friendly’ mayor is not picked for jury
That tall guy in the jury box sure looked familiar.
Mayor de Blasio reported for jury duty Wednesday at Manhattan Criminal Court, where he sat through an orientation video, schmoozed with fellow prospective jurors and even got questioned for jury selection in a firearms case before being dismissed from service around 4 p.m. without landing on a jury.
Hizzoner dealt with the indignities of a massive bureaucracy — crossing out his last name on his jury summons because it had been misspelled, lacking a space between the “de” and the “Blasio.”
But unlike other jurors, de Blasio was accompanied by his NYPD detail, an aide and his press secretary. A second press officer later joined the entourage.
During downtime, he scrolled through emails on his BlackBerry.
He also attracted a bit of gawking — and some folks came right up to him to chat.
During juror orientation, he sat next to Deb Schwartz, 52, of Manhattan, who said she initially noticed somebody seemed to have come to jury duty with an assistant, and then realized it was the mayor.
“We were just chatting, just sort of shooting the s---, and he’s like super friendly,” she said.
Schwartz said she’s enjoyed serving on juries in the past because they offer an “incredible slice of New York.”
“And there’s probably nothing New Yorkier than going in for jury duty and sitting next to the mayor,” she said, even if she suspected he wouldn’t get called to serve.
De Blasio’s famous name didn’t save him from being called for the jury selection process, known as voire dire.
He and other jurors marched down four flights of stairs to report to Judge Laura Ward’s courtroom for a firearms possession case. He was the 12th of 16 jurors called for the first panel.
The mayor didn’t raise his hand when asked if he would have any problems setting aside his own feelings about the law. But he did raise his hand when asked if he had travel plans.
“August 5th to August 7th,” the mayor said.
A moment later, he raised his hand again.
“Judge, I apologize, I did my math wrong. August 3rd to August 5th,” he said.
De Blasio is heading to New Orleans for a conference on Friday. Because of his travel plans, he and several other jurors were dismissed.
But he wasn’t off the hook yet — he was sent downstairs to the main juror room again in case there was a shorter trial available. The clerk called another group of jurors into the judge’s courtroom around 4 p.m., but de Blasio wasn’t one of them. He and dozens of others were dismissed and told they wouldn’t need to serve again for six years.