Posted on Jan 06, 2012

In Sarasota, Jacob Jock was dismissed as a jury member when he sent a Facebook request to one of the defendants in a civil suit. When a juror in Texas did almost the exact same thing, he was sentenced to two days of community service. Jock was unhappy about having to serve jury duty and was taking advice from friends on Facebook on how to get out of it. He said he began using his smart phone to look up the people involved in the case when he got bored during jury questioning. He first denied sending the friend request, but then changed his story and said that it must have been an accident. Jock says that he didn’t think it would be a big deal because he didn’t think he would get picked for the jury. The day after he sent the friend request, the defendant, Violetta Milerman, informed her attorney about it. The judge decided to raise the issue. Senior Circuit Judge Nancy Donnellan told the juror not to discuss the case with anyone and not to try to find any more information about the case. The friend request was sent 20 minutes after the judges warning. Damian Mallard, an attorney in this case said that Jock was very close to going to jail for this. After Jock was dismissed, he posted a Facebook status update stating “Score… I got dismissed!! Apparently they frown upon sending a friend request to the defendant”.
Damian Mallard, Esq.
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