21-Year-Old Man Sentenced To 10 Days In Jail After He Overslept For Jury Duty

When Deandre Somerville received his very first summons for jury duty over the summer and was picked to sit on a jury, he never imagined he would end up in jail.

The the 21-year-old actually overslept for jury service in a Florida courtroom and a judge later handed down a punishment of a 10-day jail sentence.

The judge sentenced Somerville to jail time, plus one year on probation and 150 hours of community service after he failed to serve on a jury Aug. 21. Somerville was released Sunday and has a hearing scheduled for Friday.

According to ABC News, Somerville, who works at afterschool programs for the city of West Palm Beach Parks and Recreation Department, received his first-ever summons and it was also his first time ever going to the courthouse and sitting in a courtroom. He described it as a little intimidating and a little boring as he sat in a room waiting to be called for a jury. But by the end of the day, he was picked and told to return the next day at 9 a.m. to serve as a juror on a civil case.

Instead, he overslept and by the time he woke up around 11:30 a.m. He decided to get ready to head to his afternoon job. Hoping it would all just work out, not realizing his no call-no show for jury duty would have steep consequences.

“At work, I was looking on my phone thinking, ‘What’s the worst-case scenario that could happen?’ I thought maybe I would get a fine or something like that,” Somerville said in a phone interview with an ABC News affiliate.

Somerville, who lives with his elderly grandparents was out playing ball when his grandmother called him to say a police officer was at the door with another court summons.

“My grandfather said, ‘Just go in and be honest,'” Somerville said. “I’ve never had a criminal background, never been arrested, never been in handcuffs. The most I’ve ever gotten was a traffic ticket so I was thinking it wouldn’t be that bad.”

But it was. Judge John Kastrenakes explained that Somerville’s negligence delayed the court’s proceedings by 45 minutes.

“They handcuffed me in the courtroom after that,” said Somerville, who spent the next 10 days in jail. He said his first jail experience wasn’t scary, but he prayed daily and wrote often in a notebook.

Somerville’s public defender was able to lessen his probation sentence to 30 hours, down from 150 which he called “excessive,” at Friday’s hearing.

But Somerville’s innocent mistake will stay with him for the rest of his life. “Now I have a record. I almost feel like a criminal now. Now, I have to explain this in every interview,” said Somerville, who said he plans to become a firefighter.