Judge hits juror who lied, caused mistrial with max sentence
Kayla De Peña looked very small as she faced Judge Mark Blechman Thursday, Jan. 4 – and found out what happens when you make a judge mad.
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De Peña found herself on the wrong side of the law back in October, when she was called to serve on the jury of the resentencing of Bessman Okafor.
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Okafor was found guilty of killing 19-year-old Alex Zaldivar in 2012.
He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was overturned when the Florida Supreme Court ruled death penalty sentences needed to be unanimous.
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De Peña and her fellow jurors spent three weeks listening to testimony and six hours in deliberations.
When the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the first day, De Peña told the judge she has spoken to a friend about the case and heard outside information – a major violation of the court’s rules.
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With the alternates already dismissed, the court was forced to call a mistrial.
Thursday, De Peña admitted she lied about speaking to a friend, and blamed a combination of depression, discomfort of law enforcement and financial stress from not getting paid during the trial as reasons why she threw a wrench in the proceedings.
She issued a series of apologies to Blechman, court staff, the victim’s family and witnesses for her action.
“I’m extremely sorry for lying,” she said, bursting into tears as she talked about seeing a doctor for her health concerns.
Prosecutors then picked apart her excuses, starting with the fact that they asked each juror at the beginning of the trial if they had any medical or financial reasons why they shouldn’t serve on the jury.
They said De Peña affirmed she was fit to serve.
They also called other jurors to testify against De Peña, and confirm she knew her lie would throw the proceedings out despite the jury having made up its mind about Okafor’s sentence.
They said one juror merely wanted to sleep on their decision before telling the judge.
“She said she was about to make that a mistrial,” Tayla Lira recalled, adding that De Peña was visibly angry about not being able to go back to work and had slept through most of the deliberation.
Blechman sternly told De Peña he wouldn’t buy her excuses either, and sentenced her to the maximum 179 days in jail and imposed a $500 fine for contempt of court.
He said she deserved to spend 280 days in jail, one for each day each juror wasted and repay the $200,000 in costs the trial created, but the law wouldn’t allow that.
“You have thwarted justice more than anybody I have seen in my 42 years as an attorney,” Blechman said. “Your case deserves the maximum punishment that I can impose.”
De Peña looked straight ahead as she was led off in handcuffs.
Outside of the court room, 5th Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson, who is overseeing this case, agreed that justice was not served.
“Honestly, what she did was disgusting,” he said.
Gladson’s team is busy preparing for a do-over, scheduled to begin on Jan. 16 with 300 new prospective jurors and a new judge.
Also preparing is Rafael Zalvidar, the father of the slain 19-year-old, who described the phone call telling him about the mistrial as surreal and said he did not accept De Peña’s apology.
“That girl doesn’t give a damn,” he said. “I can’t wait to see her mugshot.”
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