Legal Research

But For a Nail the Shoe Was Lost

But for a nail the shoe was lost,
But for a shoe the horse was lost,
But for a horse the soldier was lost,
But for a soldier the war was lost,
But for a war the kingdom was lost.

And, according to the Daily News, “but for 9 bucks the case got postponed for 5 months”. That’s because the Philly courts are trying to save money by calling 100-200 less people in each week for jury duty. It’s estimated that this’ll save the city about $100,000 this year.

One local attorney isn’t exactly applauding this:

“‘The current jury system makes no sense under the theory of saving money,’ defense attorney Samuel C. Stretton said. He said he recently had a trial delayed because of the changes … Stretton said that he had a trial scheduled this past Monday and was expecting to pick a jury then. Instead, he said, he was told last Thursday that the courtroom had to pick that day because Thursday was its priority day. Stretton was on another trial and couldn’t select that day. Thus, he said, the ‘Monday’ trial got postponed to September. ‘The case doesn’t get handled because of the stupid jury-selection process,’ he said.”

It’s great that the city is trying to save money. Unfortunately, it’s a DROP in the bucket.

Full post as published by Jenkins Webblits on April 16, 2009 (boomark / email).