The Knucklehead of the Day award

This may be a controversial award

Today's winner is Florida Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb. He gets the award for the following.

DADE CITY - Daniel Harrell was Juror No. 1 for a day.

After being picked first from the jury pool Monday to hear a civil trial at the Pasco County Courthouse, Harrell, 20, showed up in court the next day with little enthusiasm for his civic duty.

He handed over his juror's badge to Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb's bailiff, saying he didn't want to serve any longer. The bailiff told the judge, who questioned Harrell in the courthouse lobby.

Then Cobb took him into his chambers.

"I tried to talk him out of it," Cobb said Wednesday. "I told him how stupid it was."

He even told Harrell the punishment he had in mind.

But Harrell wasn't budging, the judge said, so Cobb brought him into the courtroom and put the matter on the record.

End result: Harrell, of Land O'Lakes, was handcuffed and taken into custody to serve a 15-day jail sentence for direct criminal contempt of court. An alternate took his seat on the jury so the trial could move forward.

This marks the second Pasco case this week illustrating the reverence with which court officers view jury service.

At a Tuesday hearing in west Pasco, Circuit Judge W. Lowell Bray Jr. found a business owner in contempt of court for firing an employee who missed a day of work because he showed up for jury duty. All-Pro Printing owner Sean Hylton denied the allegation but was fined $500.

Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis, who prosecuted Hylton, called jury service a citizen's "biggest duty during peacetime."

Harrell, who has no prior criminal record in Florida, didn't provide a clear reason for refusing to serve.

"That's fine with me," Harrell told Cobb after the judge informed him of the sentence - which is days longer than his jury service would have been.

"Because of you all putting me in jail for not, you know, not doing that ... . I don't like the judicial system anyways. So you all do whatever you have to do."

He was booked in the Land O'Lakes jail shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday. He is not eligible for bail.

*****

The 15-day sentence, he said, was a concession.

"I really thought 30 (days), but I decided to go easy," he said. "I wanted it (to last) more than the trial."

Harrell is dumb, but Cobb is a dangerous fool. Does he think that punishing jurors are going to make people want to come and do service? Duh.....I don't think so especially if one can have their civil liberties taken away by one power mad person who passes himself off as judge and jury.

What happened between Harrell and Cobb reminds me of this story. Neither judge was right, Harrell could have been given community service instead. For abusing his powers, Florida Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb is today's Knucklehead of the Day.

Linked to- Basil, Blue Star, Bright & Early, Cao, Jo, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson, Pirate's Cove, Pursuing Holiness, Samantha Burns, Third World County,