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Poor opinion of police is now a punishable offense
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Truth hurts for potential juror
Friday, September 20, 2002
By Doug Guthrie
The Grand Rapids Press
Lori Blumke thought she was doing her civic duty last week when she told a judge her recent hard feelings toward police officers might taint her ability to serve as an impartial juror.
She was stunned when David Buter, chief judge of Grand Rapids District Court, declined to excuse her from jury duty. Instead, he ordered her to perform 24 hours of community service.
Blumke, 33, reported last Friday to the court's alternative sentencing office, where she was assigned to pick up litter along with convicts. She also was slated to work eight hours a day on three consecutive Mondays in October and must submit to a Breathalyzer test.
"I feel like I got punished for being honest about my opinion," said Blumke, who manages Bridge Street Superwash Laundromat on Grand Rapids' West Side. "I'm going to miss three days of work. I'm being treated like a criminal because I told the truth."
Buter insists he did not punish Blumke but offered her a choice between community service or changing her mind about police. The judge said he offered the same option to four jurors in similar situations during his eight years on the bench -- including a woman last week who complained in writing to him that religious principles prevent her from sitting in judgment.
"What I told her (Blumke) was ... we would be selecting juries for criminal cases all day long, and all of them likely would include the testimony of police officers," Buter said. "If she continued with that kind of response, she wouldn't be on any cases. If we are going to be effective spreading the load among the jurors, and we have one who says she can't or won't, I give them the option of community service."
Blumke said she was given no choice by the judge.
"An option is an alternative, which means choices," she said. "I told him the truth. How is taking back the truth an option? If he had said, 'You can do 24 hours of community service or 10 pushups,' I'd be doing the pushups."
Grand Rapids residents selected for duty in district court serve for two months, during which they may be called for selection to juries. Depending on the luck of a blind draw, some get assigned to up to five trials. Others might never have their names called.
On Sept. 13, Blumke's name was drawn with six others to take a seat in the jury box as potential jurors in a malicious destruction of property case. The prosecutor and defense lawyer took turns asking questions in an effort to get an impartial panel.
When asked if she could give police officers a fair hearing, Blumke said she probably could not. She told the judge she was upset that police the previous weekend refused to take a report for a co-worker who was hit by a woman with a broom handle when the woman was told she could not park in the Laundromat parking lot.
Blumke was excused from that jury at the prosecutor's request, but the luck of the draw put her back in the jury box a few minutes later when the court picked a jury for a drunken-driving case.
"The judge asked me if I still had the same opinion about the police. I said, 'Yes, I do.' And he said I could fulfill my civic duty by performing 24 hours of community service," Blumke said. "My jaw fell. I saw others get excused. I expected to be told, 'Thank you Ms. Blumke, you are excused.'"
Buter said he could not recall Blumke being petulant or disingenuous.
"I don't know what her true motivation was," Buter said. "What did become clear is that every time she was called, she was going to talk about whatever experience this was and she was going to be excused. We were going to have the other jurors watch this. I have concerns about that."
Michigan court rules allow a judge to hold a potential juror in contempt for answering falsely on questionnaires.
In this case, area judges said they respect Buter but sided with Blumke.
"You can't punish someone for an answer unless you can prove it is a deliberate attempt to get out of jury duty," Rockford District Judge Steven Servaas said. "You'd need statements from others who said they heard him, saying he was going to deceive the court. Otherwise, you have to just excuse them and get them out of there as quickly as you can."
Another judge said he fears Buter's sanctions sent the wrong message to the other jurors.
"The whole purpose of questioning jurors is we are trying to find someone who is going to be fair and impartial," Kentwood District Judge William Kelly said. "I fear the message to the rest of the jurors is, 'I'd better lie or face punishment.' Then, you have people who weren't truthful about their prejudices going back to the jury room and they raise cane over their hidden issues."
Holland District Judge Susan Jonas said she has never imposed a sentence on a juror, although she did fine a juror $150 for twice failing to appear for trials.
But, she added, Buter may have found "a novel approach to dealing with a frustrating problem."
Blumke, who said she spoke with a lawyer, could challenge Buter's order by asking a Kent County Circuit judge to overturn the lower-court decision and stay the order of community service.
Chief Kent County Circuit Judge George Buth said judges in the higher court also have struggled with what to do about jurors who have "thumbed their noses" at the process.
But, he said, "I cannot recall any juror being given community service, and I cannot ever recall a juror being sanctioned at the time of jury selection."
Buter is standing by his community service order, but said Thursday court officials will contact Blumke and the woman who objected due to religious reasons to change the criteria. The judge said he had no intention of forcing them to serve alongside convicts. He said they should serve a "more casual" form of service.
"It is not the same court-supervised community service we would use for everyone else," Buter said. "The better approach is let them choose an agency they perhaps have done volunteer work for in the past. They will be allowed to choose their own site and send confirmation to the court before Dec. 30."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-4/103253313638550.xml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Friday, September 20, 2002
By Doug Guthrie
The Grand Rapids Press
Lori Blumke thought she was doing her civic duty last week when she told a judge her recent hard feelings toward police officers might taint her ability to serve as an impartial juror.
She was stunned when David Buter, chief judge of Grand Rapids District Court, declined to excuse her from jury duty. Instead, he ordered her to perform 24 hours of community service.
Blumke, 33, reported last Friday to the court's alternative sentencing office, where she was assigned to pick up litter along with convicts. She also was slated to work eight hours a day on three consecutive Mondays in October and must submit to a Breathalyzer test.
"I feel like I got punished for being honest about my opinion," said Blumke, who manages Bridge Street Superwash Laundromat on Grand Rapids' West Side. "I'm going to miss three days of work. I'm being treated like a criminal because I told the truth."
Buter insists he did not punish Blumke but offered her a choice between community service or changing her mind about police. The judge said he offered the same option to four jurors in similar situations during his eight years on the bench -- including a woman last week who complained in writing to him that religious principles prevent her from sitting in judgment.
"What I told her (Blumke) was ... we would be selecting juries for criminal cases all day long, and all of them likely would include the testimony of police officers," Buter said. "If she continued with that kind of response, she wouldn't be on any cases. If we are going to be effective spreading the load among the jurors, and we have one who says she can't or won't, I give them the option of community service."
Blumke said she was given no choice by the judge.
"An option is an alternative, which means choices," she said. "I told him the truth. How is taking back the truth an option? If he had said, 'You can do 24 hours of community service or 10 pushups,' I'd be doing the pushups."
Grand Rapids residents selected for duty in district court serve for two months, during which they may be called for selection to juries. Depending on the luck of a blind draw, some get assigned to up to five trials. Others might never have their names called.
On Sept. 13, Blumke's name was drawn with six others to take a seat in the jury box as potential jurors in a malicious destruction of property case. The prosecutor and defense lawyer took turns asking questions in an effort to get an impartial panel.
When asked if she could give police officers a fair hearing, Blumke said she probably could not. She told the judge she was upset that police the previous weekend refused to take a report for a co-worker who was hit by a woman with a broom handle when the woman was told she could not park in the Laundromat parking lot.
Blumke was excused from that jury at the prosecutor's request, but the luck of the draw put her back in the jury box a few minutes later when the court picked a jury for a drunken-driving case.
"The judge asked me if I still had the same opinion about the police. I said, 'Yes, I do.' And he said I could fulfill my civic duty by performing 24 hours of community service," Blumke said. "My jaw fell. I saw others get excused. I expected to be told, 'Thank you Ms. Blumke, you are excused.'"
Buter said he could not recall Blumke being petulant or disingenuous.
"I don't know what her true motivation was," Buter said. "What did become clear is that every time she was called, she was going to talk about whatever experience this was and she was going to be excused. We were going to have the other jurors watch this. I have concerns about that."
Michigan court rules allow a judge to hold a potential juror in contempt for answering falsely on questionnaires.
In this case, area judges said they respect Buter but sided with Blumke.
"You can't punish someone for an answer unless you can prove it is a deliberate attempt to get out of jury duty," Rockford District Judge Steven Servaas said. "You'd need statements from others who said they heard him, saying he was going to deceive the court. Otherwise, you have to just excuse them and get them out of there as quickly as you can."
Another judge said he fears Buter's sanctions sent the wrong message to the other jurors.
"The whole purpose of questioning jurors is we are trying to find someone who is going to be fair and impartial," Kentwood District Judge William Kelly said. "I fear the message to the rest of the jurors is, 'I'd better lie or face punishment.' Then, you have people who weren't truthful about their prejudices going back to the jury room and they raise cane over their hidden issues."
Holland District Judge Susan Jonas said she has never imposed a sentence on a juror, although she did fine a juror $150 for twice failing to appear for trials.
But, she added, Buter may have found "a novel approach to dealing with a frustrating problem."
Blumke, who said she spoke with a lawyer, could challenge Buter's order by asking a Kent County Circuit judge to overturn the lower-court decision and stay the order of community service.
Chief Kent County Circuit Judge George Buth said judges in the higher court also have struggled with what to do about jurors who have "thumbed their noses" at the process.
But, he said, "I cannot recall any juror being given community service, and I cannot ever recall a juror being sanctioned at the time of jury selection."
Buter is standing by his community service order, but said Thursday court officials will contact Blumke and the woman who objected due to religious reasons to change the criteria. The judge said he had no intention of forcing them to serve alongside convicts. He said they should serve a "more casual" form of service.
"It is not the same court-supervised community service we would use for everyone else," Buter said. "The better approach is let them choose an agency they perhaps have done volunteer work for in the past. They will be allowed to choose their own site and send confirmation to the court before Dec. 30."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news-4/103253313638550.xml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
It's not what you know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know that just ain't so!
If you will blame gun makers for every shooting then blame car maker for every car accident.
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