It’s 12 and a 1/2 jurors.
The 10-year-old daughter of a juror in the Manhattan federal court fraud trial of five ex-employees of Ponzi monster Bernie Madoff got a crash course on civics Tuesday when she was allowed to sit in on the case thanks to Mother Nature.
“We have a special guest today,” said Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
The young girl, dressed in a pink sweater and sporting braids, was forced to accompany her mom after the recent snowstorm stranded them at a friend’s house in Yonkers where they attended a Super Bowl party two days earlier.
The duo were also in Yonkers Monday.
The mom tried bringing her daughter to school in the Bronx Tuesday morning but could not get there by the allowable time for the child to attend classes, Swain told lawyers for both sides.
So the mother was forced to take her daughter with her to court — and both were more than three hours late despite taking a car service.
Swain explained the odd turn of events to the lawyers, who had no problem with the child being assigned a “special seat” across from the jury box to watch the trial.
Before the young girl sat, she was asked a few questions by Swain, including whether she would “promise not to discuss this case at school, home or anywhere else” until it is finished.
The girl, smiled and nodded her head up and down, before stating “yes.”
The girl didn’t seem too interested in learning about the biggest Ponzi scheme in history.
Instead, she spent most of her time in court with her head down reading a book, sometimes covering one of her ears with a hand.
After testimony was completed for the day, the girl waved to the judge as she was escorted back to the jury room by a courtroom employee to wait for her mother.
“Nice seeing you,” the judge said. “Take care, and do well in school!”
Swain afterwards said she was impressed by the young girl.
“My child would have been rolling under the table,” she told prosecutors and defense lawyers.
Larry Krantz, a defense lawyer for former Madoff computer operator George Perez agreed, saying, “I thought she was the most well-behaved 10-year-old I’ve ever seen, and she was very cute.”