Physician criminally charged after firing worker during jury service in high-profile trial
An Indiana physician has been charged with a misdemeanor after firing a worker at the health company he owns while the employee was taking time off for jury service in a high-profile trial.
Dr. William P. Hedrick, 52, conveyed in an email that he was eliminating the job of Chriss Lynn Keaton “due to volume,” an affidavit in the Allen County case says. However, the doctor was charged with interference with jury service after Keaton, who served as an alternate in the trial of a former Indianapolis police officer, David Bisard, complained to authorities, the Indianapolis Star reports.
If convicted, Hedrick faces a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Bisard was convicted last month of reckless homicide, drunken driving and criminal recklessness concerning a 2010 accident in which a motorcylist died and two other people were injured. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, with three of those years suspended.
