Judge instructs jury to dress up
By Associated Press
BOSTON- Jury instructions are common in any courtroom. But in Judge Raymond Brassard's courtroom, there's an extra request of jurors: dress up.
The 59-year-old Suffolk Superior judge says jury service is a "serious occasion," and that the whole system benefits from formal dressware.
For more than a decade he's been asking male jurors to wear a necktie. Last week, he made the request to a jury hearing the case of a man accused of shooting two Boston police officers. That jury included three men. He urged the 13 female jurors to dress appropriately.
"The whole system of law benefits when people walking into a courtroom _ witnesses, spectators, defendants _ look at the jury box and see that it's not just the lawyers who are formally dressed," Brassard told The Boston Globe.
Marisela Ramirez, a family advocate in the Suffolk district attorney's office, said she agrees. She has seen jurors show up in tank tops and sneakers.
"Being in a tie and shirt changes the whole jury's mindset," she said. "These are serious cases. It requires people to be serious and to look it."
Not everyone agrees, however. David Gontaruk, a real estate agent and juror on a recent murder trial before Brassard, said he chose not to wear the tie because ties make him uncomfortable. And he said he already gave up five weeks of his life to serve.
"Quite frankly, I felt, I'm already doing the commonwealth a favor," he said.
Veteran Boston criminal defense attorney John C. Taylor told the Globe that he's more concerned about jurors paying attention to testimony than about dressware.
"I remember when we were a free country," he said, adding "There might be people on the jury who don't know how to do a Windsor knot or a four-in-hand."
Brassard said he doesn't "pester them about it" and added that he has no specific advice for what women should wear. He said he's never hear a complaint.
JT
By Associated Press
BOSTON- Jury instructions are common in any courtroom. But in Judge Raymond Brassard's courtroom, there's an extra request of jurors: dress up.
The 59-year-old Suffolk Superior judge says jury service is a "serious occasion," and that the whole system benefits from formal dressware.
For more than a decade he's been asking male jurors to wear a necktie. Last week, he made the request to a jury hearing the case of a man accused of shooting two Boston police officers. That jury included three men. He urged the 13 female jurors to dress appropriately.
"The whole system of law benefits when people walking into a courtroom _ witnesses, spectators, defendants _ look at the jury box and see that it's not just the lawyers who are formally dressed," Brassard told The Boston Globe.
Marisela Ramirez, a family advocate in the Suffolk district attorney's office, said she agrees. She has seen jurors show up in tank tops and sneakers.
"Being in a tie and shirt changes the whole jury's mindset," she said. "These are serious cases. It requires people to be serious and to look it."
Not everyone agrees, however. David Gontaruk, a real estate agent and juror on a recent murder trial before Brassard, said he chose not to wear the tie because ties make him uncomfortable. And he said he already gave up five weeks of his life to serve.
"Quite frankly, I felt, I'm already doing the commonwealth a favor," he said.
Veteran Boston criminal defense attorney John C. Taylor told the Globe that he's more concerned about jurors paying attention to testimony than about dressware.
"I remember when we were a free country," he said, adding "There might be people on the jury who don't know how to do a Windsor knot or a four-in-hand."
Brassard said he doesn't "pester them about it" and added that he has no specific advice for what women should wear. He said he's never hear a complaint.
JT
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