Malcolm Henry
I want jury duty so bad. I am legit upset at Ray Allen for this. I watch so many procedural dramas that I know I would be great on a jury. C’mon Jason Bull, try and match me in your computer.
Anyways, NBA Hall of Fame player Ray Allen got a good talking to from a federal judge and was ordered to donate $1,000 to charity after failing to show up at a trial after being selected as a juror.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke told Allen that he had disrespected the court by skipping out on jury service.
Her order said that “no man or [sic] woman is above performing that civic duty.”
She is 100% correct.
Allen had been selected to serve as a juror in a fatal carjacking trial. The former sharpshooter chose not to appear even after Cooke delayed the trial a day so that he could attend the jersey retirement ceremony of former Boston Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett, according to the Miami Herald.
Allen said little during the hearing but his attorney, William McCue, apologized to Cooke and said Allen’s absence “was a complete misunderstanding.”
Allen said he would make his donation to diabetes research.
The trial went on without Allen and the defendant was convicted.
Allen, now a coach at a Miami-area private school, played 1,300 NBA games over 18 seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Celtics and Miami Heat.
He won NBA championships with the Celtics in 2008 and Heat in 2013 and retired as the league’s career-best three-point shooter, a record that has since been eclipsed. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2018.
