Another juror could be jailed for contempt
Allegedly violated order banning outside research during trial
Right on the heels of a national controversy over a man jailed for missing jury duty, another South Florida juror now faces the possibility of being put behind bars.
In this new case, a Palm Beach County woman faces a criminal contempt of court charge for allegedly violating a judge’s order banning outside research during the recent sex crimes trial of a podiatrist.
The juror misconduct case, set for a Dec. 2 hearing, is not before Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes, widely criticized for sentencing a juror to 10 days in jail for skipping jury duty.
Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss issued an order Tuesday notifying Katharine Susannah Amygdalitsis that she must appear at the hearing and explain why she shouldn’t be held in indirect criminal contempt and face punishments including “a fine and/or incarceration or probation.”
It’s rare for jurors for be jailed for misconduct in the United States. Kastrenakes caught heat after he punished 21-year-old DeAndre Somerville for oversleeping and missing a civil trial.
After Somerville served his jail time and apologized to the court, the judge rescinded his finding that Somerville was in contempt of court and vacated a remaining three-month probation term.
But state Sen. Bobby Powell Jr., D-West Palm Beach, recently filed a complaint with the Florida Judi
cial Qualifications Commission, saying he hopes the Florida Supreme Court removes Kastrenakes from the bench.
In the latest case, Judge Weiss wrote in her order that Amygdalitsis, during an interview with the court on Oct. 4, admitted to using her phone to research a medical condition over a weekend break from deliberations in the trial of Scott Strolla.
But despite the action against the juror, Weiss last week denied Strolla’s request for a new trial on a video voyeurism conviction.
The judge explained that the misconduct by Amygdalitsis, identified also as Juror Three, did not impact the panel’s deliberations or affect the verdict.
“Had Juror Three shared this information with others, the opposite conclusion would have to be reached and a new trial ordered,” Weiss wrote, noting that Amygdalitsis didn’t learn anything from her internet research anyway.
Amygdalitsis explained there was “a huge amount of gray area” in Strolla’s trial that she hoped to clear up in her mind. She said she spent five or 10 minutes looking up information about “fetal alcohol syndrome” and possible lingering effects in adulthood. She said she wondered if the 28-year-old accuser in the case had that condition.
“I was needing to be 100% certain of my already firm conviction,” she told the judge. “And honestly, what I looked up really didn’t solidify that for me. I wished it had, I mean. But it didn’t.”
The judge emphasized that Strolla, 53, wasn’t harmed by any of this “because there was no additional knowledge that any juror took with him or her into deliberations.”
“Though there was juror misconduct, it was not prejudicial to Defendant,” Weiss said, concluding “there is no evidence that it affected the verdict of any juror.”
Still, the judge wrote the “importance of jurors following a court’s instructions cannot be overstated,” and the violation by Amygdalitsis “must be addressed.”
Weiss said it is now up to Amygdalitsis to provide reasons why she shouldn’t be punished for her “disregard of the Court’s instructions and numerous admonitions regarding outside research.”
The 49-year-old former juror was warned that failing to appear for her hearing “may result” in a warrant for her arrest and up to 48 hours in jail before she would be brought back to court.
Amygdalitsis — her first and middle names were misidentified by the court as “Suzanne Catherine” — was notified that she has the right to a lawyer to defend her. No attorney is listed in the case docket as of yet. Attempts to reach her by phone Thursday were unsuccessful.
Strolla’s counsel contended that the juror’s actions deprived him of a fair trial. “Given the fact we know Amygdalitsis has no respect for this Court’s clear and direct order … her word alone to assure the Defendant that this contemptuous conduct did not affect the verdict is insufficient to say the least,” wrote defense attorney Cory Strolla, who represented his brother.
The six-member jury was deadlocked on two sexual battery counts from the same 2016 incident that happened at his home near Palm Beach Gardens. Strolla is on house arrest, awaiting a Jan. 13 retrial.
Assistant State Attorney Kristen Grimes argued that the juror’s violation was harmless concerning the guilty verdict on the voyeurism count, punishable by up to five years in prison.
“Essentially, if nothing is learned, and nothing was shared, nothing happened, and no harm was done outside of a flagrant disregard for the Court’s admonishment,” the prosecutor wrote last month.