A Florida juror has been sentenced to 10 days in prison after he overslept and missed the start of a court case.<\/p>\n
Deandre Somerville, 21, of West Palm Beach, was chosen to serve on a jury in August.<\/p>\n
But on the first day of the trial he overslept by at least two hours and failed to notify the court.<\/p>\n
Judge John Kastrenakes held him in criminal contempt, also imposing 150 hours’ community service and a $223 (\u00a3180) fine as well as the jail term.<\/p>\n
After serving his time in prison, Somerville is appealing against the sentence, arguing it was “excessive”.<\/p>\n
“Now I have a record,” he told local media after a court appearance on Friday. “I almost feel like a criminal now. Now, I have to explain this in every interview.”<\/p>\n
Somerville was to be one of six jurors, and it was his first time serving on a jury.<\/p>\n
He told local media he slept though his alarm and woke up hours later, realising he had missed the start of the court session.<\/p>\n
Somerville did not call the court to let them know, he said, because he felt nervous.<\/p>\n
He said he also had to leave for his afternoon job at afterschool programmes for the city’s parks and recreation department.<\/p>\n
He said he expected a fine, at worst.<\/p>\n
Police arrived at Somerville’s home, where he lives with his grandparents and helps care for his grandfather, to issue a court summons.<\/p>\n
He went to the hearing, later\u00a0telling WPTV<\/a>: “I said, ‘Sir, honestly I overslept and I didn’t understand the seriousness of this’.”<\/p>\n Somerville also told the court he had never been arrested or sent to jail.<\/p>\n But Judge Kastrenakes was not swayed.<\/p>\n “We waited almost an hour for you to come to court. You didn’t come,” the judge told him.<\/p>\n Somerville has also been ordered to write a “sincere” letter of apology of at least 100 words.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"