Former Boston Celtics and Miami Heat star Ray Allen wound up passing on jury duty this month. And that led to him being ordered to make a $1,000 donation to charity.
As per Jay Weaver of The Miami Herald, Allen (now the coach of the boys’ basketball team at Miami’s Gulliver Prep) was summoned for a federal Miami jury in early March in a trial revolving around a deadly carjacking. The trial was initially set to start on March 14, but Allen (seen above at NBA All-Star Saturday Night this February) asked for a delay so he could go ahead with a planned trip to Boston for former Celtics’ teammate Kevin Garnett‘s jersey retirement at a March 13 Celtics’ game. That was granted, with the trial rescheduled to a March 15 start. But Allen still didn’t show up:
Allen, dressed in a dark suit and tie, was ordered to appear in the Miami courtroom of U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke for failing to show up after he was selected as a juror for a deadly carjacking trial. It started without him last week and ended Tuesday with guilty verdicts against a South Florida man accused of fatally shooting the car’s driver.
…Cooke also ordered Allen, 46, to donate $1,000 to a charity of his choice, noting in an order that “no man or woman is above performing that civic duty.”
…To accommodate Allen’s trip to Boston, Cooke set her trial for March 15. But Allen didn’t show up. Her courtroom deputy, Ivan Marchena, tried to reach him and left messages with Allen. He didn’t respond.
So the trial started without him, and the judge issued an order to “show cause” why Allen should not be sanctioned for failing to appear as a selected juror. “Mr. Allen’s actions in failing to appear for jury duty are both baffling and disconcerting,” Cooke wrote in her show-cause order.
It does seem unusual that Allen would request that delay, see it granted, and then still not show up. His lawyer, William McCue, said “it was a complete misunderstanding” in an apology statement, and perhaps that’s true. But it’s still not a great look for Allen.
Yes, the actual consequences here aren’t that severe. A $1,000 donation to a charity, which Allen told Weaver will be towards diabetes research, doesn’t feel like a huge deal for someone with an estimated $184 million in career NBA earnings. But this isn’t beneficial for Allen’s image. And this is perhaps an indication that it’s very much worth showing up for a jury duty summons.
[The Miami Herald; photo from Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports]