Judge Gives The Tie Off His Neck at Start of Basciano Jury Selection

Vinny Gorgeous borrowed
the judge's tie as jury 
selection began.
According to an article on AFP by Sebastian Smith, Vincent Basciano wasn't looking Gorgeous enough this morning as his capital-murder trial got underway. Seems the increasingly "weirdfella" did not have a necktie.

The tie he was wearing actually belonged to the judge, who'd loaned him the accessory on Tuesday after prison authorities prohibited Basciano's relatives from bringing along one of his own.

In an unusual stipulation last month Judge Nicholas Garaufis had ordered Basciano to be allowed a full wardrobe consisting of "five sets of clothing, including but not limited to, undershirts, socks, shoes, dress shirts, suit pants and suit jackets."

However, the order did not include the word "ties," leading prison guards to deny them to the imprisoned mobster. Oh, those guards can be so petty, but irritating a judge? Union jobs....

Garaufis said this had been a "misunderstanding" and that his ruling was interpreted too literally. "I said 'other items,' so one could conclude there were other items," such as ties, the article added.

On Wednesday, Garaufis was wondering when he'd get his tie back.

As the article continues, Having smoothed out these ruffles, the court entered the grave business of jury selection in a case that could run many weeks and, in the event of a guilty verdict, will require the jury to choose between the death penalty and life in prison without parole.

Jury selection often takes no more than a day or two, but the court has set opening arguments for April 4 in anticipation of multiple difficulties in selecting the 12 to hear the murder and racketeering charges against Basciano.

Progress was painfully slow Wednesday as potential jurors were questioned, one by one, on their views about capital punishment.

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