ENGLISH OR ELSE!
AT LEAST FOUR Queens judges have made empty threats to potential jurors with limited English skills, telling them they have to take language lessons or return to court to prove their proficiency, an investigation by the Daily News has found.
The court-ordered classes don’t exist and the jurors didn’t actually have to return to the courthouse.
Now, the threats are the subject of at least six appeals arguing they tainted the jury, resulting in unjust verdicts. The News found a total of 10 cases involving burglary, second-degree murder and other serious criminal charges in which the judges delivered the tough, bogus messages to potential jurors.
Appeals papers argue that even if the English classes did exist, judges don’t have the authority to make such a demand.
The four Queens Supreme Court justices — Joel Blumenfeld, Ira Margulis, Kenneth Holder and John Latella — all make the warnings in similar fashion to jurors who struggle with English.
As the process of jury selection begins, the judges make clear that anyone claiming he or she can’t understand the proceeding will not get off easy.
“If you have not understood some of what I have said because of language difficulties, you will be excused from this trial, and if you’re excused because of language difficulties, you will not get paid for today’s jury service and you may very well have to take a course in English,” Margulis said during the trial of Aaron Sutton, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglary, appeals papers show.
“All of you are American citizens and are expected to understand what’s going on here.”
The judge’s order regarding payment for service was not enforced.
In May 2015, Blumenfeld grilled a potential juror, Ting Ting Fey, 37, about how she got a twoyear college degree without being fully fluent in English. The grilling came during the trial of Yves Poullard, who was convicted of robbery.
He excused Fey from service — but not before ordering that she return to jury duty every year.
“Normally, if you sit on a jury, you don’t get called for the next four to six years. You are going to have to come back every year until you demonstrate a proficiency in English. You are the benefit (sic) of associate degree education so you have to perform your civic duty,” Blumenfeld said, according to a transcript.
Fey didn’t have to return to court every year — but she did remember the experience.
“He said, I’m in college, (I am) supposed to know (English),” Fey recalled. “I feel sad. I know it’s not my language. He said it in front of other people. I felt a little bit embarrassed. He said, ‘Learn better English,’ or something like that. It was strange to walk out.”
Holder’s questioning of prospective jurors in the trial of Charles Dudley in September 2014 for manslaughter became contentious.
Holder could not believe a woman who drove a school bus was able to earn her driver’s license without English skills.
“Listen. Don’t play me like that. Come on. I can see right through you. That’s absurd, what you are saying. You drive a school bus? And you don’t understand any English?” Holder said, according to appeals papers.
“Did someone tell you, just walk in here and tell the judge some nonsense and you can get out of here? Is that what they said? You can stay here.”
Holder questioned another juror, before excusing her, about how she communicated with her children’s teachers.
“We are going to send you for English lessons. Thanks a lot. Mark her card ‘English lessons,’ ” Holder said, appeals papers show.
Dudley’s appeal of his 20-year sentence states the judge has no authority to issue such orders.
“What the court told those prospective jurors was simply not true. There is no provision in the criminal procedure law, or other relevant rules and statutes, that a prospective juror who is excused for lack of English proficiency may be required to take a language course,” appellate attorney Lynn Fahey wrote.
Latella repeatedly said during the March 2014 trial of Howard Freire for robbery that it be noted certain jurors “should take a course in English” so they “can serve when next called to serve as a juror,” a transcript shows.
Retired Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman had never heard of such a practice — and did not approve.
“It’s highly discriminatory and embarrassing,” she said.
“It’s not up to a judge to decide who does or does not get paid for jury service,” she added.
Office of Court Administration spokesman Lucian Chalfen said finding a jury in Queens, where more than 135 languages are spoken, is challenging. Judges in the Criminal Term of Queens Supreme Court questioned more than 22,000 jurors last year.
“While New York State Judiciary Law requires that a person must be able to understand and communicate in the English language in order to qualify as a juror, it does not require that jurors do anything other than their civic duty by serving on a jury,” Chalfen said.
“It remains a challenge, however, to find qualified jurors in Queens County because so many potential jurors have to be released as a result of language difficulty.”
The judges never spell out their reasons for the threats. But a review of transcripts and appeal papers indicate they suspect people fake a lack of English skills to get out of jury duty.
“I’ll be honest with you. I don’t really believe you . . . We are going to help you out. Twentyfour years here . . . Ten weeks of English lessons . . . Good luck,” Holder told one juror in the 2014 trial of Ynmaculada Gomez for second-degree murder, according to her appeal.
Blumenfeld told a Chinesespeaking restaurant worker that service on a jury was a critical part of being a citizen.
“Here is the thing. This country takes seriously the requirement for citizens to serve on juries. You have not yet learned enough English so (what) is going to happen is, you have to work on your English because you are going to be called for jury duty every year until you demonstrate you can speak and understand English,” Blumenfeld said.
Blumenfeld, who recently retired, did not back down from the practice. In an email to The News, he wrote, “My question for you is why do you suggest that classes to learn English as a second language do not exist? Aren’t they given in schools and in public libraries?”
He added he did not recall ordering anyone to take English lessons and that he believed that it was courthouse protocol for non-English-speaking jurors to be recalled each year.
“It was never stated as a threat, it was my understanding . . . that this was the policy,” Blumenfeld said.
Goodman said that jurors trying to get out of jury duty is a common source of frustration among judges. But trying to convince unwilling jurors of their civic duty is a losing battle, she said.
“To some degree you have to say you don’t want people to be there who don’t want to be there,” she said. “They won’t add anything to the process.”
The Appellate Division-2nd Department ruled that warnings by Margulis to non-Englishspeaking jurors in the 2012 trial of Lanze Mason didn’t warrant vacating his conviction for assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
But the appeals panel did take exception to the judge’s repeated warnings to certain jurors he excused that they’d have to take an English course.
“The court’s remark to the prospective jurors, while inappropriate, does not warrant reversal,” the court ruled in October 2015.
That reprimand features prominently in other appeals arguing the judges’ threats had a chilling effect on other jurors who may have also had limited English skills or other concerns.
In one case examined by The News, an attorney moved for a mistrial in light of Holder’s warning, which made jurors scared “to even say they don’t understand the language.”
Holder denied the mistrial and concluded jurors were not fearful of speaking. He said that prospective jurors who claimed they did not understand English “were faking,” according to appeals papers.