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New York courts discriminate, says blind woman fired from jury

Matte Jr
New York courts discriminate, says blind woman fired from jury

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Most people try to escape jury duty. Emeline Lakrout is fighting to get in.

Last October, Lakrout, who is blind, said she was dismissed from jury duty in Manhattan after requesting accommodations for her blindness.

In a lawsuit filed last week against the state court system, Lakrout alleges that Manhattan courts are systematically excluding blind residents like her from jury service, in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Ms. Lakrout’s lived experience as a juror indicates that there were no policies in place to accommodate blind individuals on the jury,” the lawsuit says. “Ms. Lakrout’s request for equal treatment was ignored, and no further attempt was made by the judge or any other court official to accommodate Ms. Lakrout’s disability.”

Lakrout, 26, is a disability and accessibility advocate and consults with corporate clients on marketing to customers with disabilities. She previously sued the New York City subway system, as part of a group of New Yorkers with disabilities, over gaps in subway platforms that are difficult for disabled passengers to cross. This process remains pending. She is also part of the national paraclimbing team and has competed abroad.

Dismissed from jury with unclear explanation

In October 2023, Lakrout was called to participate in a major rape trial being prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

During a break in jury selection, Lakrout was approached by a court official who informed her that “because she is blind, her attorney was concerned about her ability to review all of the evidence in the case,” her lawsuit alleges.

Lakrout insisted on speaking to the judge presiding over the case. She was eventually called back to court, where the judge “confirmed that she was being excused from the jury,” according to her lawsuit.

But the judge said “he could not disclose the basis for his dismissal,” the suit alleges. Lakrout uses a white cane to get around, which would be visible to the judge and any lawyers present.

Al Baker, spokesman for the administrative arm of the state court system, said in a statement that while he could not comment on Lakrout’s lawsuit, “there is no prohibition on individuals who are blind or visually impaired from serving on juries.”

“Depending on particular circumstances, reasonable accommodations are made for such individuals,” Baker added.

‘Now I will fight for my rights’

In an interview with New York’s USA Today Network, Lakrout described the experience as “humiliating” and “insulting”, being told by the judicial system, in accordance with its understanding of her dismissal, that she could not fulfill her civic duties because of cause of his dismissal. blindness.

“I’m an advocate and I fight for other people and I defend the rights of people with disabilities all the time,” she said. “I was like, ‘Now I’m going to fight for my rights.'”

His lawsuit argues that none of the evidence cited during jury selection indicated that jurors would have to make judgments based on “subjective interpretation of what the evidence looked like to a sighted individual.”

Lakrout believes she could have served effectively with “minimal accommodations,” such as reading aloud the contents of documents that would have been introduced as evidence.

“I work in marketing. I move up competitively. I do a lot of things that people might think I can’t do,” she said. “I spent the first 15 to 20 years of my life always being told, ‘No, you can’t do this. You can’t do that,’ until I discovered, no, I can, I want to, and I should be able to.”

New York courts have handed down conflicting rulings on whether New Yorkers with disabilities can participate in jury service. In a case before the Americans with Disabilities Act, a Manhattan civil judge held that a blind individual could not serve as a juror because “a significant amount of the evidence consisted of physical evidence, the interpretation of which by the jurors would be extremely important in reaching their verdict.” .”

However, in 1993, another Manhattan judge ruled that a visually impaired juror should be allowed to serve in a criminal case under the Americans with Disabilities Act because she needed “only minimal assistance in following the evidence.” and because the documentary evidence was “read into the record by the court.”

By filing his lawsuit, Lakrout hopes to effect broad policy change so that “in all 50 states, if a blind juror or any disabled juror comes in, they can serve just like anyone else.”

“There should never be any assumptions about what they can or cannot do,” she said.

Asher Stockler is a reporter for the USA Today Network New York. You can email him at [email protected]. Contact him securely: [email protected].

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