Juror asks judge to reduce his six-month sentence for misconduct
A Florida juror who conducted a vodka-drinking experiment during a trial is seeking a reduction of his nearly six-month-long contempt sentence for the misconduct to 37 days of time already served in jail.
The juror, Dennis DeMartin, said he lost his condo during his jail stint and is now living in government-subsidized housing in Connecticut, the Sun Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post report. DeMartin “is poor by just about any standard,” DeMartin’s lawyer wrote in court documents, and he suffers from cognitive impairment, heart disease and near blindness in one eye.
DeMartin temporarily lost Social Security benefits during his stay at the Palm Beach County jail, and he will lose them again if he goes back to jail, which will result in the loss of his apartment, according to his lawyer.
DeMartin was a juror in the 2012 drunken driving trial of a wealthy polo mogul accused of causing a fatal accident. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath declared a mistrial after DeMartin had failed to disclose his ex-wife’s DUI arrest during jury selection and his secret vodka-drinking experiment during the trial. An appeals court said he should be permitted to post bail pending an appeal.
Typo corrected on May 24.
