A Florida judge sent 21-year-old Deandre Somerville to jail to teach him a lesson for oversleeping and missing jury duty.
He later cleared the record.
Deandre Somerville, 21, had no criminal record before Circuit Civil Judge John Kastrenakes convicted him of direct criminal contempt.
Somerville was supposed to be on the jury for a civil automobile accident negligence case in West Palm Beach County in August. He overslept and missed his visit to the courthouse that morning. Instead, he went to his job at a local park, where he’s a recreation specialist.
So Judge John S. Kastrenakes, a civil court judge in Palm Beach County, Fla., sentenced Somerville to 10 days in jail, a year of probation, 150 hours of community service, $223 in court costs and ordered him to write a letter of apology to the court.
Somerville apologized and explained he’d never been to a courthouse before, much less served jury duty. He was also unaware of the seriousness of it.
“After going through that, my life will never be the same again,” Somerville, who has no prior criminal history, told WPTV upon release from the 10-day jail stint last week.
Judge Kastrenakes scolded him by saying he held up the trial for 45 minutes. He also said jury service is as important as military service, and added that Somerville “was the only African American on the jury.”
Somerville told BuzzFeed News the 10 days he spent in jail “were long and traumatic days.”
“I made a mistake, but I didn’t know I would go to jail,” he said. “They don’t tell you that if you miss jury duty you go to jail.”
Somerville cares for his grandfather, who lost half his mobility from a heart attack and needs the support of the walker and scooter to get around. The first thought he had upon hearing his sentence was how it would affect his family, he said.
“A whole 10 days. It put a bind on my family. It neglected me from helping my family,” he said. “When I am not working, I am helping to maintain the house. I am taking my granddad to therapy. I am constantly going. It was hard. My granddad missed days of therapy when I was in jail.”
Kastrenakes reduced the sentence to three months of probation and 30 hours of community service after Somerville’s public defender appealed.
“As a result of my irresponsible actions, my life has been forever changed. Everything I’ve gone through, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” Somerville said in an apology letter he read in court, according to the Associated Press.
In the court order, Kastrenakes rescinded the conviction and said Somerville had been “totally rehabilitated.”
“I know he now understands and respects our system of justice and the critical role jurors play in that system,” Kastrenakes said. “In conclusion, I do not want even a finding of contempt to be gleaned from a perusal of his background or record.”
Somerville told BuzzFeed News that he was “definitely happy” when he got the news, though he added he still has to go through the “process of getting it expunged.”
“It’s a relief,” he said. “It’s a lot off my shoulders.”
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