Juror Gets Week in Jail for Leaving for Vacation

A juror in a murder case in Cincinnati was sent to jail for seven days for going on vacation to Mexico in the middle of deliberations.

Christine Fiorini, 33, failed to show up after the long Presidents Day weekend, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. Deliberations were put on hold for a week while court officials tried to track her down.

Fiorini surfaced Monday and was taken before the judge presiding over the trial.

“You’ll have to sit there for seven days with all of the other knuckleheads up there, see what it’s like. It’s not a great place,” Judge Robert Ruehlman told her.

Fiorini told the judge she thought he would be able to use the jury’s alternate. Ruehlman had dismissed the alternate before deliberations began and after asking jurors whether there was any reason they could not complete the case.