Man Who Spent 10 Days in Jail Has Probation Reduced by Judge
A 21-year-old with no prior record spent 10 days in jail after he overslept for jury service in Florida.
Deandre Somerville had been sworn in to serve on the jury for a civil case but failed to return to court for jury duty because he overslept. Court employees tried to reach Somerville for court, but ultimately the trial was only delayed for 45-minutes.
Deandre acknowledges that he did not respond to the bailiff before heading to his job for the city parks department working with kids in the after-school program.
Somerville was handcuffed in the court room on September 20 and sentenced to 10 days in jail, 1 year of probation, and 150 hours of community service.
According to reports, on Friday, Deandre arrived early for his court hearing with Judge John Kastrenakes, and apologized for not apprehending the seriousness of his duty as a juror.
Whether it was due to viral outrage or a change of heart, Judge Kastrenakes accepted Somerville's apology and reduced his probation to 3 months, and the community service to 30 hours. The judge will also consider dropping the contempt of court charge in the future.
Deandre will give 10-minute talks to jurors about the significance of jury duty as community service. It has been agreed that each talk will credited as 3 hours of service.