by KYW's Michelle Durham
A Bucks County man is in hot water with a judge after faking a case of swine flu to get out of jury duty.
Now, he'll be sitting in a courtroom for a while longer.
According to court testimony, 24-year-old Anthony DiCicco of Jamison, Pa. was undoubtedly ill shortly before the start of a medical malpractice trial last July, with fever, fatigue, and body aches.
Although he felt well enough to show up on trial day, he began to feel sick again. But, in an apparent attempt to make his illness seem more severe than it actually was, he told the judge that his doctor's office had called and told him he had swine flu and needed treatment.
Fellow jurors and court officials were under the impression that they had been exposed to swine flu, and the judge was forced to declare a mistrial.
But court administrator Douglas Praul says DiCicco's swine flu claim was bogus:
"We established that the information that Mr. DiCicco provided to the court at the time of trial was deceptive."
Praul adds that if DiCicco hadn't tried to embelish his illness, the judge would have replaced him as a juror and the trial could have proceeded.
Praul says the incident undermined the justice system:
"The backbone of our justice system is the jury. It's the place where average citizens can have a direct voice in our government. Without the jury, our justice system would not function very well."
Now, DiCicco will see for himself the importance of juries -- he's been ordered to sit as an observer in a courtroom for three days.
DiCicco's attorney called his client's punishment "fair."
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