One of New York City's most famous residents -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- reported for jury duty Monday morning at Manhattan Supreme Court.
It is the first time that he has been called for jury duty since taking office, but a spokesman said Bloomberg has actually served five times since 1981.
As he approached the courthouse, the mayor said elected officials should have to serve just like anyone else.
"It's what I learned in the seventh grade. I've always been a believer that everybody should participate," he told reporters.
Bloomberg's spokesman said the mayor just wants to be treated like a regular guy. "Doctors, architects, nurses and day care workers serve on jury duty. Why not mayors?"
Bloomberg spent a day serving jury duty on Monday, but hardly as a regular guy. He was asked for autographs, sketched by courtroom artists and greeted personally by the judge and attorneys.
The mayor was expected to serve the full day, as civil cases in State Supreme Court assembled their juries. But he might be able to go home after one day, instead of the usual two, if he was not picked as a juror, court officials said.
Bloomberg was called along with about 40 others into a courtroom where attorneys were set to pick a jury for an asbestos litigation suit. The plaintiff was a woman whose husband had died after years of operating a printing press that attorneys said contained asbestos in its brakes.
Attorney James Long did not question Bloomberg for long since the mayor's life is "pretty much an open book."
But Long did want assurances that the mayor would not dominate a potential jury of five other people, because of his fame and powerful position.
"I would be one voice of six but I've got a strong personality and you'd have to ask them what they think," Bloomberg replied.
Long had already asked the others, and no one said they would be influenced by the mayor if they serve on a jury with him.
Other high-profile New Yorkers who have been called to serve over the years include Woody Allen, news anchor Ann Curry, singer Roseanne Cash, and Eliot Spitzer, before he became New York governor.
Bloomberg last was called in February 2001, the year he ran for mayor. He served one day but was not picked for a jury.
He has been picked to be a juror several times, spokesman Stu Loeser said, serving seven days on a jury in 1992, six in 1988 and five in 1981.
The mayor is eligible for a 40-dollar-a-day pay check, but he would probably decline it as he did with the mayor's salary, accepting remuneration of one dollar annually.
Bloomberg's predecessor Rudolph Guiliani also served on a jury. He was the jury foreman on a civil personal injury case back in 1999.
Serving on a jury is normally compulsory for those individuals who are qualified for jury service. Qualifications in the United States typically include U.S. citizenship, residency in the judicial district, age 18 or older, mentally competent, able to speak and understand English, and not a convicted felon or under indictment for a felony.
In most criminal justice systems and some civil cases which need a jury, panels are initially allotted at random from the adult population of the district served by the court concerned.
The number of jurors must be a specified size, usually 12, and in some legal systems smaller cases may require only six.
Source: Xinhua
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