BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Anxious weeks have ended for a Williamsburg, Ohio, man who finally learned his penalty for fouling up in the jury box:
Ten hours community service over the next two months at the FreeStore - Foodbank.
"I've been sick about it for a month," Michael Webb told U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott. "I didn't mean to screw up. . . . I did not do what I did with contempt in my heart."
Mr. Webb, of Pauley Lane, was among more than 30 prospective jurors called for a civil case on July 27. After all of the questioning by the judge and attorneys -- a process called voir dire -- Mr. Webb was among the eight jurors seated to hear the case.
Only after all of the others went home did Mr. Webb tell Judge Dlott that he could not afford to lose $180 per day as a heavy-equipment operator.
By then, he'd missed a dozen chances to say something and he'd failed to return a questionnaire asking prospective jurors about hardship.
It was too late to recall departing prospects and Judge Dlott tried the case with seven jurors rather than dismiss the jury and start over.
However, she scheduled Friday's hearing for Mr. Webb to show cause why he should not be held in civil contempt.
Friday, Judge Dlott reminded Mr. Webb that she invited him and other prospective jurors to speak to her privately on July 27 if they were embarrassed about their reasons for seeking an excuse. When he offered his tardy request and explanation, Mr. Webb suggested he would be an unhappy, unwilling and inattentive juror. She responded to him with an excuse and a contempt hearing.
Friday, Judge Dlott said she would have excused Mr. Webb if she'd understood how lost pay for at least five days would have been an "extreme hardship" financially.
As for what happened last month in court, his attorney, Douglas A. Ball, said, "I don't think he understood what was going on."
