OT 2 NY Jurors Gone and Gotti's Mother Is Not Happy

November 4, 2009
2 NY Jurors Gone and Gotti's Mother Is Not Happy
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:22 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- John ''Junior'' Gotti's mother unleashed a
profanity-laced tirade Wednesday after a judge dismissed two anonymous
jurors at her son's racketeering trial, saying he was being cheated of a
fair trial as his father had been.

''They're railroading you!'' Victoria Gotti shouted as she stood in the
spectator section several feet behind her son. ''They're doing to you
what they did to your father.''

John Gotti Sr. was convicted of racketeering in 1991 after several
previous trials had ended in deadlocked juries. He died in prison in
2002.

Mrs. Gotti's outburst came as the two-month trial nears its end and
after several notes from jurors over a period of weeks indicated there
were personality issues bothering some of them.

The trial is the fourth for Gotti in the past four years. The others
ended in hung juries.

Even before the latest trial began, seven jurors asked to be relieved of
the jury duty. Five complained of issues such as damage it would cause
to their jobs or personal finances, but two suggested that they feared
being on a jury for an organized crime trial.

Several weeks ago, the judge revealed that he had received an anonymous
letter to the court purportedly from a juror who was angry that one
juror seemed to be fawning over the defense lawyer's presentation. As a
result, the judge questioned each juror about any concerns but none
arose.

Castel dismissed the two jurors Wednesday after one complained this week
that a fellow juror had made her feel ''very uncomfortable.''

The juror told Castel that the woman told her at one point: ''I'd rather
phony people not speak to me at all.''

The juror added: ''I don't need that. I should be spanking her.''

Castel said he decided to release the two jurors from duty after
receiving a letter from the government. The contents of the letter were
not revealed.

The judge said judges have wide latitude to release jurors from duty
before deliberations start. Three alternate jurors are left.

''This is a railroad job. Enough now. Enough,'' Mrs. Gotti said after
the judge made his announcement outside the presence of the jury.

Gotti, seated at the time, turned his head around to look at his mother
and said: ''Ma. Ma. Please.''

Later, he told his mother: ''I can deal with it. I'm OK. Don't worry
about it. I'm fine.''

At one point, Mrs. Gotti shouted as she pointed toward prosecutors and
the judge: ''They're the gangsters, right there! ... Put your own sons
in there. You bastards.''

Still shouting, Mrs. Gotti was ushered out of court by her family and
court security officers.

Gotti's lawyer, Charles Carnesi, objected to the dismissal of the
jurors, saying the judge should have been more concerned about the
anonymous letter he had received weeks ago from a juror who ''objected
to the fact that a juror was paying particular attention to the defense
case and somehow found that to be offensive.''

Closing arguments are expected next week.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press
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