WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. _ Community leaders and elected officials call for Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes to be ousted from trial bench for jailing a juror who missed jury duty.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes should no longer preside over jury trials as punishment for jailing a man for 10 days over skipping jury duty, community leaders urged Friday.
This push to discipline the judge follows a formal complaint filed this week against Kastrenakes with Florida's judicial watchdog agency, over his recent sentencing of DeAndre Somerville, 21.
The oversleeping juror at the center of a growing national controversy joined a protest outside the main courthouse in West Palm Beach with dozens of supporters, including area politicians demanding action.
"Judge Kastrenakes needs to be immediately transferred out of the trial division," said Edwin Ferguson, attorney for Somerville, calling on Chief Circuit Judge Krista Marx to order the move.
The lawyer said jailing Somerville was "excessive to say the least" and the West Palm Beach college student and city parks employee could have received some other penalty.
"Look to educate, not incarcerate," said Ferguson, who organized Friday's rally with state Sen. Bobby Powell, D-West Palm Beach.
Powell brought the complaint to the Judicial Qualifications Commission, hoping it leads to the Florida Supreme Court disrobing the judge.
"Judge Kastrenakes in an unjustifiable manner moved to unfairly punish DeAndre Somerville for missing jury duty," Powell told reporters on the courthouse steps.
"Judge Kastrenakes imposed an excessive, yet absurd penalty of 10 days in jail, one year of probation and 150 hours of community service ... and an order to write a letter of apology to the court, despite having no criminal history," Powell continued.
Kastrenakes and Marx could not be immediately reached for comment Friday through emails and a call to courthouse spokeswoman Debra Oats.
Somerville reported for jury duty on Aug. 20, and he was selected to serve on a panel for a civil trial in an auto negligence case.
But he failed to show up the next day, delaying the start of the trial by 45 minutes.
It continued without him, but the judge then ordered Somerville to appear at a Sept. 20 hearing to explain himself.
Without an attorney to defend him, Somerville was found guilty of criminal contempt, a misdemeanor, and was immediately placed into custody. He was released Sept. 29.
At a hearing last week, Somerville apologized for not calling the court that day over his absence.
Kastrenakes then reduced the punishment to three months of probation and 30 hours of community service, but also ordered Somerville to give speeches on the importance of jury service.
But the judge ultimately changed his mind, after being widely criticized by politicians and pundits and across social media.
He vacated the rest of Somerville's sentence and rescinded the finding of contempt.
"Given the abundant publicity surrounding Mr. Somerville's case, I have concluded that the importance of a sworn juror abiding by the law has been made clear," Kastrenakes wrote. "Therefore, there exists no reason to continue Mr. Somerville on probation."
