Judge Jails Tardy Attorney

You don’t want to "waste" the time of at least one judge’s time.

A Berks County judge fined and briefly jailed a defense attorney who was nearly an hour late for jury selection in a drug case.

Judge Stephen Lieberman told attorney B. David Marcial his tardiness wasted a jury pool and fined him $1,000. The judge had dismissed the pool after the defense table sat empty Monday morning.

"We were all here at 9 a.m. for a jury trial and the defense table was empty," the judge said, according to the Reading Eagle. "We wasted a jury panel."

The judge says Marcial will have to serve 10 days in prison if the money is not paid within 60 days.

The Reading Eagle reports that after Marcial and his client arrived around 9:50 a.m. Monday, the judge ordered them both locked up in the courthouse cell block. His client, Jesus Ortiz, had been free on $120,000 bail while awaiting trial.

Marcial said he didn't get a wake-up call from a hotel receptionist after a late night dealing with "personal problems."

Besides the fine for Marcial, the judge also upped bail for Ortiz to $3 million, according to the paper.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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