Wednesday, February 14, 2001
|
Wednesday, February 14, 2001 |
|
Jail sentence for rapper who skipped jury duty is upheld by appeals court By JOHN
MUNFORD
Rapper Jermaine Dupri Mauldin will get a taste of the real "Hard Knock Life" after all. Fayette County sheriff's deputies are on the lookout for Dupri, a resident of north Fayette County, so he can serve his three-day sentence for skipping jury duty in March 1999. Mauldin originally appealed the sentence, but it was recently upheld by the Georgia Court of Appeals. The rapper, who is on the SoSoDef Recordings label, has said he was out of town performing in the "Hard Knock Life" rap concert in New Jersey when he failed to show for jury duty here. Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards eventually found Mauldin to be in contempt of court for not reporting to jury duty. Edwards sentenced the rapper to three days in jail, which was put on hold for the appeal. In the Court of Appeals ruling, the judges made it clear that Mauldin willingly refused to return for jury duty. They also refuted that the three-day jail sentence was "cruel and unusual punishment," as Mauldin claimed. "Mauldin ... made the conscious choice to instead honor a previously made commitment," the court wrote. The court also said the three-day sentence was justified for missing three days of jury service. Mauldin had been notified he was scheduled to serve jury duty for the week of March 1. He appeared that day and was asked to return two days later, which he admits he didn't do. Mauldin claims one of his attorneys tried to gain a waiver of jury duty from the court. However, an employee at the clerk's office notified the attorney such a waiver would not be granted, according to court records. Previously, the rapper had received three different jury waivers, each postponing his jury service until another date. The attorney later claimed that the rapper could not be reached to notify him that the waiver was not granted. Instead, Mauldin "assumed" he would be granted another waiver, he said. At a hearing before Judge Edwards on the matter, Mauldin's attorneys indicated he wanted to apologize to the court. In a court document, one of his attorneys indicated he would be willing to perform community service, such as speaking to a youth group.
|
||