Fuck, I did not need to see this right after missing jury duty
They coming for you chief better immigrate to Canada or Mexico
I would watch Stir Crazy a few times, learn the We Bad walk from Richard Pryor just in case.
Fuck, I did not need to see this right after missing jury duty
They coming for you chief better immigrate to Canada or Mexico
I would watch Stir Crazy a few times, learn the We Bad walk from Richard Pryor just in case.
Maybe a bit harsh, but a day or two doesn’t seem crazy. Judy duty can be a pain, but if you’re empaneled you have serious responsibility to everyone involved.
Like voting, it's one of those things that everyone in a functioning society should do to maintain their power. Juries are important, because they're made up of regular people, deciding if you or I are the actual criminals of society.
A *bit* harsh? You're implying jail time and a criminal record for oversleeping and missing something you never signed up for in the first place is a fair trade? You're legitimately insane.
Reading the article it looks like this was done to make an example. Only 30% of called jurors show up in the area. Likely was trying to scare people into following through on their obligation. The judge also dropped all charges
Yeah I don’t actually care if he’s justified in sending a message, if he does it in a way that harms someone who doesn’t deserve it. Apparently it caused a delay of 45 minutes. Even if he dropped it eventually, do you think it’s fair to the 21 year old to go through wondering if they have to spend most of the next 2 weeks in a cell?
Seems excessive.
What's not excessive is the amount of money they pay people to be on jury duty. $12.50 per day here.
Somerville said he overslept and didn't call the bailiff before heading straight to his afternoon job in an afterschool program at the West Palm Beach city parks department. His absence delayed the court by 45 minutes, according to court records.
Clearly a scoundrel and delinquent. Thank God we have judges that are willing to drop the hammer on these flagrant criminals.
I mean, he clearly wasn’t expecting to take off work and be on the jury. Not that I think he should have gotten jail time at all, but I’m skeptical of his excuse
"Delayed the court" means there were other jurors and witnesses waiting on call, all of which had to take off work, who had to be there longer, waiting for *this guy*.
45 minutes is a long time to delay. You have multiple lawyers charging around 200 dollars an hour along with a judge, bailiff, court transcribers, officials from jail. Along with the fact that you are delaying everyone elses case The delay probably cost thousands of dollars.
Now he definitely won't make it.
Sorry thats overkill, they wont give actual criminal jail time. Community service sure but cmon
So what would have happened if he didn’t show up at all? Nothing since most people don’t show up anyway?
What’s the difference between missing jury duty and not showing up at all?
Question for Americans - do they pay you for jury duty?
There’s usually a small stipend…
You are compensated, yeah, but it won't be the same as if you went to work in a lot of cases.
minimum wage yes
Not for the day of selection usually, but if you actually serve on a jury you do. But it's not much; federal juries pay $50 a day, but it can be $60 if the trial is over 10 days long and a judge authorizes it. States vary from $10-$50/day.
Technically yes. Practically: you could make more money on minimum wage for a few hours than they’ll give you the whole day.
Depends on the state, some of them don't pay anything, the highest pay is $50 per day, and some states require employers to pay regular wages for time missed for jury duty.
I got paid $5 per day. Bus fare and car parking fees weren't included (and, no, the courthouse didn't have free parking).
Yeah but it's not much, and last year they gave it to me on like some clumsy card that expires in like 30 days if you don't use it. I don't remember the exact details, but it felt like they wanted to make it difficult to spend so they get the money back
I got $20 for showing up and a piece of paper to give to HR for a full days pay. Was only there for 4 hours
$15/day
Depends. My employer pays a full days wage for jury duty, but I work for the USPS, so it’s a little different than your average job.
We had a lady that taught high school in town. She kept blowing off jury duty till the judge sent the deputies to pick her up from her classroom.
Back in the day my boss at the library kept putting her jury duty off until she was finally forced to do it. She kept putting it off because the city was building a new library and there was a lot to do, but she ended up having to do the jury duty *while we were moving into the new building, a project that she was in charge of.* That was a fantastic and super fun experience for everyone involved…
The rest of the story is... It wasn't the first time he'd skipped jury duty. He'd already gotten warnings beforehand.
Most people don’t show up at all and there’s no warning or consequences. There is no more to the story other than a asshole judge.
He was picked for the jury. Once you're picked, you have to show.
[removed]
Yes and no. Frequently they will have a spare juror who will sit through the whole case, but not involved in the verdict, so that if someone can't make it the replacement will get involved.
And what's wrong with that?
My daughter was called for jury duty and loved it. She found it really interesting but she said some of the other jurors were not the brightest people on the block. She can't wait to be called again.
I would forgo my right to vote in a heartbeat if it exempted me from civic "duties". Once judges are held responsible for lenient rulings on people who go on to reoffend then we can talk about respecting the sanctity of the law
Misleading headline; the article is titled, "Florida man who overslept and missed jury duty gets criminal record cleared".
When I was 20, I had to turn myself in to be arrested for missing a court date for a ticket once. It was my first ever ticket, I didn’t know it was a thing, and I had moved before the summons. Still had to be booked and go in front of the judge. Fortunately, they expunged it when I paid the ticket. But my god! For missing a court date for expired tags? Just make me pay the ticket(which I thought my boss had as it was his vehicle). Don’t arrest me!
Some judges should be judged on their judgements. Some straight up shouldn’t be judges!
Americans are in love with suing someone for anything yet hate jury duty. When it doesn’t help them they can’t be bothered.
Got your American hate in for today ya? Rent free lol
One time I was picked for jury duty, but it was the day I was moving out of a place, so I put in a request to delay it, they did, by a week, but that was the day I was gonna be moving into my new place, so I requested that it be delayed again. They called me, left a message saying I couldn’t delay it twice, so I had to email them, but it cut off before they could state the email. It’s been four years now, I haven’t heard anything back - nothings happened so far.
I really think a lot of people underestimate how much going to jail can hurt someone.
Even ignoring the crazy stuff you might associate with jail...I just mean the boring logistical stuff.
Lots of jobs will just fire you when you don't show. Now you are unemployed.
You certainly aren't getting paid for those days either...so now you've lost income.
Depending on the specifics and how it all plays out, it is quite common for your car to get towed and impounded. That can be hugely expensive.
Pets, children, and other obligations fall to the wayside. Who is feeding your dog?
Immediate repremand (where they just don't let you leave) is the most common. I don't know about this guy, but lots of people don't expect jail, and then just don't get to leave. Sure it's a 'consideration' but judges are crazy out of touch.
Sure, if you are upper middle class, it's not a big deal. It's just an annoyance...but if you are working class, it's not trivial at all.
Man, that kid is NEVER going to miss jury duty again lol.
I blew off jury duty once I didn't feel like going.. Just cited food poisoning
[removed]
This is why you throw out every jury duty letter you get 👏🏻
What does them bring 21 have to do with anything?
"21-year-old Deandre Somerville." Oh ok. I see what the judge did.
At first it seems a little harsh, but imagine you're the family of a murdered child. You turn up to court, ready to start another gruelling day of evidence and testimony and heartbreak Only to be told that one of the people on jury duty had a lie in and now you're all just sat there waiting for someone to wake up. It would probably be quite a costly thing to delay.
He didn’t show up for the sentencing either, he was sleeping. He’s now been indicted with felony charges. I’m one of the jurors for the trial. Actually I missed it, it was yesterday, I overslept.
JURY NULIFICATION JURY NULIFICATION JURY NULIFICATION
every time i've been summoned for jury duty, they give me a number to call the day of to see if i need to actually show up to the court, i call the number, and they say they don't need me. eighteen years ago, i actually made it the waiting room at the court before getting dismissed. haven't even made it to the voir dire yet.
I can’t vote to convict someone guilty. I’m not wasting my valuable time with that nonsense. 10 years of ignoring jury duty.
It's funny (not really) that people have an "obligation" to jury duty and can be tossed into jail for not showing up, but government can shutdown.
I'm blind and had the deputies at the courthouse yelling at me 3 days before I had jury duty because they didn't want to give me a reasonable accommodation. I just needed them to hold my phone at the front since I can't bring it in but rely on it to navigate to get there from home to the courthouse. They kept insisting that I rely only on my cane for navigation. I got ahold of the person in charge of ADA stuff for the county and apparently she cussed them out. She also excused me from jury duty. Idk why I'm sharing except that this just happened a few days ago. Asshole cops.
Probably got more time than the criminal that was found guilty at the trial.