Gotti? Goetz? All the Same to Jury Prospect

A prospective juror in the assault trial of reputed organized crime boss John Gotti said she thought she was being called to judge the case of subway gunman Bernhard Goetz.

“You mean you confused Mr. Gotti with Mr. Goetz?” Bruce Cutler, Gotti’s lawyer, asked the young woman, who appeared to be in her 20s.

“Yes,” she said, adding that she has lived in New York about five years.

She was dismissed Tuesday, as were all but one of the 21 potential jurors who participated in the session.

Chosen as foreman was a high school teacher who appeared to be in his 40s and who said he was aware of Gotti’s “notoriety” and alleged involvement in crime. He will be sequestered immediately until trial’s end, said the trial judge, Acting State Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin.

The juror, selected at the end of the day, said Gotti impressed him as “dignified” and a sharp dresser.

One of those excused from the case was an actress, carrying a book of plays, who said it was “God’s will” that she was called to serve on the jury of “one of those Italian Mafia guys.”

“I’m from California,” the woman told McLaughlin.

“I knew that,” the judge replied as he excused her from consideration.