Western Pennsylvania man pays $500 fine to avoid jail for missing jury duty 11 times
Posted March 30, 2015 2:23 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SOMERSET, Pa. – A western Pennsylvania man has paid a $500 fine to avoid being jailed for missing jury duty 11 times in the last two years.
Somerset County Judge D. Gregory Geary told 32-year-old Owen Fazenbaker III that he’d spend a week in jail if he didn’t pay the fine. Fazenbaker paid on Friday.
Fazenbaker was arrested March 23 when he showed up at the courthouse for a child custody hearing and sheriff’s deputies arrested him on a warrant for missing jury duty.
Under the law, the judge could have sentenced Fazenbaker to a $500 fine and 10 days in jail for each time he had missed jury duty.
The Stoystown man says he’ll respond to jury summonses in the future.