Bizarre reason young man was thrown in jail for 10 days
A 21-year-old with no criminal record was forced to spend 10 days in jail for oversleeping.
In August this year, Deandre Somerville was selected as a juror on a civil case in the US state of Florida, however, the next day when he was due to be in court, he rocked up late.
“I woke up and I was like, 'Oh shoot, it's past the time,’” Mr Somerville told WPTV.
Mr Somerville also said he fully understood he needed to be at court the next day while the trial was ongoing. But by oversleeping, Mr Somerville subsequently delayed the civil trial by 45 minutes.
After he realised he was late, he neglected to call the jury office to inform them he would not be on time.
A few days after missing court, Mr Somerville was subpoenaed by the court and had to appear in front of a judge.
Mr Somerville was living with his grandparents at the time, according to WPTV, and his grandfather told him the best thing for him to do was to front up to court and tell the truth.
“My grandma was saying, 'I think you should dress up,' and I said, 'Nah, I'm going to wear my work clothes’, cause I felt like at least he can see that I'm doing something, cause a lot of times people get stereotyped,” Mr Somerville told WPTV.
At court, the judged asked why he didn’t show up to court when he was supposed to and Mr Somerville told the judge he overslept.
Mr Somerville also pleaded with the judge, explaining he understood the seriousness of his actions. When asked if he had a criminal record, Mr Somerville replied he had never been arrested.
Court documents seen by WPTV show Mr Somerville apologised to the judge, however he was still sentenced to 10 days in jail, got one year probation, complete 150 hours of community service. He was also ordered to write a letter apologising.
He also wants to reach out to the parties involved in the civil case that were delayed because of him.
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