Mokka mit Schlag

Great Egret, Ardea alba
Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois, 2007-07-28

Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui
Prospect Park, 2007-10-14

You have to go through metal detectors to enter the building. (It’s the wrong time now, but sooner or later that’s a case waiting to happen. Can the government compel you to enter a building that requires to be searched to enter? I tend to think not.) A sign up front near the X-ray machines at the courthouse door said we weren’t allowed to bring in cameras or “electronic equipment”. No one complained about my laptop though. I’m not sure if the officer even bothered to look at the image from the X-ray machine when I came in. Airport-level security it’s not. I expect there are more than a few camera phones in here. I probably could have gotten in with a Canon EOS 40D if I really wanted to.

There’s wireless access, but it’s got some sort of annoying filter proxy installed that limits Google to safe searches and blocks access to dangerous sites like Transmission.

They’re about two hundred of us in a large room at 320 Jay Street. They’re showing us an Ed Bradley video about Judge Roy Bean, of all folks (a Confederate and Justice of the Peace with 3 months of formal education). He selected his jurors from his saloon and fined them if they didn’t vote the way he wanted them too. There’s a brief history of juries and grand juries. What they omit (the early history of American grand juries and private prosecutions) is more interesting than what they include.

Now Ed Bradley’s been replaced by Sam Waterston (i.e. Hang ’em High Mccoy from Law and Order). Sam tells us we may get any crime: murder, drugs, rape, sodomy. (Well there’s at least one that’s a quick No vote. Is sodomy even still a crime in New York?)

The foreperson is chosen by the court. We can ask questions of the prosecutors and we can ask to speak to a judge. It’s not clear if we can ask questions of witnesses directly, or call our own witnesses. We are forbidden to seek or receive legal advice from any other source. (No googling for case law I guess.) The accused may appear if they wish to, and they may ask us to hear other witnesses. The accused may have an attorney present for advice, but the attorney may not participate. The proceedings are confidential. (Damn. No live blogging about the case. ) We deliberate alone. 12/23 is required to indict, and 16 are required for a quorum. We can redirect some cases to family court or lower court, but the prosecutor has to tell us when we can do this.

You can get out of this if you:
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Tomorrow I have to show up for Kings County grand jury duty at 10:00 A.M. I’ve already put it off twice so I couldn’t get out of it this time. From what I can gather, this isn’t much like petit jury service like you see on TV. You serve for a fixed period of time (likely two weeks) rather than for a specific trial, and you hear as many presentations as you can get through in that time. Indictment is by a majority vote of 12 out of 23. There’s no voir dire, so you can’t sneak out by being snarky to the D.A., telling the judge that God told you to convict, or expressing your deep affection for the principle of jury nullification.
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Brown Lipped Snail, Cepaea nemoralis
a.k.a Grove Snail, Banded Wood Snail, Striped Garden Snail
Floyd Bennett Field, 2007-09-23

This European invasive species comes in a variety of colors and styles. This is one of the plainer ones. These snails are edible, and are often used as escargot.

Common House Spider, Achaearanea tepidariorum
Fort Tilden, Queens, 2007-09-23
Roughly the size of a nickel