SARASOTA, Fla. – A Florida man was kicked off a jury for sending a Facebook friend request to a defendant, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported Friday.
Jacob Jock was selected to help decide a personal injury lawsuit resulting from a traffic accident, the paper said.
But while he waited to be selected from a pool of jurors earlier this month he used his smartphone to see if he knew any of the people involved.
After spotting an attractive female defendant named Violetta Milerman on Facebook he sent her a friendship request.
"I accidentally friend requested her," Jock told the Herald-Tribune. "I didn't think it was a big deal. I didn't think I would get picked for the jury."
Milerman informed her lawyer the next day and Senior Circuit Judge Nancy Donnellan dismissed Jock for ignoring instructions not to search the web for background.
An attorney on the case, Damian Mallard, told the Herald Tribune that Jock was "very close to going to jail" for his actions.
Despite coming close to a spell in jail for his indiscretion, he didn't appear too upset at missing out on the case.
"Score ... I got dismissed!! apparently they frown upon sending a friend request to the defendant... haha," Jock wrote on Facebook.
The case echoes a British juror's recent attempt to set up a Facebook poll to decide whether or not she should find the defendant in a child abduction and sexual assault case guilty.
She was booted off when court officials in Burnley, northwestern England, were tipped off about the survey.
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