Malingering Juror With 'Swine Flu' Sentenced to 3 Days Watching Trials
A juror in a medical malpractice case in suburban Philadelphia over the summer apparently hesitated to ask for time off because he was feeling ill.
So instead Anthony DiCicco said he had just been diagnosed with the swine flu, causing a mistrial and creating worry among fellow jurors who thought they had been exposed to the potentially deadly disease, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
He might as well have said, “I have the bubonic plague,” notes Bucks County Judge Clyde Waite, who found the 24-year-old in contempt of court yesterday and sentenced him to spend three days observing trials.
Had DiCicco not been ill (albeit, with ordinary flu, not swine flu, according to testimony at the contempt proceeding), the penalty would have been more severe, the judge says.
