A juror in Bucks County just learned the hard way that it's better to be honest if you need to change your jury duty date.  The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that a juror showed up for jury duty but after being selected for a case, informed the court he had learned from his doctor that he had swine flu and had to report to the doctor for immediate treatment. The truth is, the juror had been sick in the days preceding service and began to feel ill again, but never received an H1N1 diagnosis. Nor did his doctor call him during jury duty.

His false claim led to his dismissal, a mistrial, dismissal of the entire panel. In addition, many of his fellow jurors and court staff became concerned that they had been infected. A member of the judge's staff even missed a family funeral for fear of infecting others. The punishment for the lie, three days watching jury trials in the courthouse.  The judge noted it would have been more severe if the juror had not actually been sick. The moral of the story: if you need to change jury duty -- even after it already started -- be honest with the Court.