GRAND FAVORITISM 

For years, Nassau court employees interviewing potential grand jurors have asked them if they are "willing to serve," with those answering yes seated first. Last Friday, Newsday reported on a lawsuit that takes aim at the policy, filed by defense attorneys who say it encourages a biased grand jury pool. Nassau County Court Judge Jerald Carter will soon rule on whether the tactic — which Nassau Commissioner of Jurors Thomas DeVivo calls a way of accommodating busy citizens — is unrandom and favors certain cross-sections of the population, for example retirees. Of course, the issue's importance is heightened because defendants and their attorneys are not allowed to sit in on grand jury proceedings. "That makes an abuse of the process so much more troubling, especially when the abuse has been long-standing," said defense lawyer Brian Griffin, who heads the Nassau Criminal Courts Bar Association and who has filed multiple briefs in the case.

TWO YEARS, 10 MILLION POUNDS
The New York Times serves up a response to Southern District Judge Richard Holwell's ruling last week validating a new city health code that requires many restaurants to prominently display calorie information on menus. The Times applauds the ruling, and says restaurants like McDonald's and Burger King — which have refused to comply, pending an appeal — ". . . must have missed the news that New Yorkers gained 10 million pounds over the last two years, disproportionately in poor and minority neighborhoods, where many of the 10 million chain-restaurant meals sold each month are consumed. Those neighborhoods are also where diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are at epidemic levels."

SMALL TOWN JUSTICE
Check out The North Country Gazette for a rambling indictment of two upstate judges the author says mucked up his kerosene contamination case. The story starts with the author witnessing the judge — Town of Chester Town Judge James McDermott — driving through downtown while using his cellphone and turning without using his signals. The article accuses of McDermott of illegally recusing himself from a case and then takes aim at his son, Ryan, for allegedly receiving preferential treatment after his second DUI. "McDermott has placed himself on some kind of pedestal and like Humpty Dumpty, is due for a fall," writes the anonymous informant.

THE GALIOTTIS' REVENGE
Finally, The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports on a civil suit filed against the Monroe County District Attorney's Office by two brothers who say the office's ultimately unsuccessful investigation of their automobile towing and repair business for insurance fraud led their business to decline. Daniel and Donald Galiotti, the owners of the Galiotti Auto Group, are following in the footsteps of Douglas Warney, who was wrongly convicted of murder by the office and allowed to sue by Western District Judge David Larimer in 2006, who held that the DA's office was not protected from a lawsuit when investigating — as opposed to prosecuting — a case. The Galiottis' arrest was the culmination of an undercover sting after the DA's Office received a $142,000 grant from the state to work on fraud and auto theft cases. But the allegation — that the repair shop repaired, instead of replaced, certain parts of a wrecked car, to the detriment of an insurance company, was proved false.