McKINNEY, TX -AP- A Texas man arrested 12 weeks ago for allegedly failing to appear for jury duty was released from jail Saturday after spending 83 days behind bars, according to online court records.
A newspaper inquiry led to the Saturday release of 34-year-old Douglas Maupin, a day after The Dallas Morning News brought his plight to the attention of a Collin County judge.
Maupin was arrested Feb. 15 after police pulled him over for speeding. Police detained him on a 2003 warrant for failure to appear for jury duty. He could not pay his $1,500 bond and said his attempt to get a public defender was rebuffed by a jail clerk.
The judge who released him called Maupin's lengthy detention unacceptable and said he didn't know why the man remained behind bars for so long.
"He should not have spent that much time. This is unacceptable," District Judge Chris Oldner told The Dallas Morning News. "I don't know why the process failed to notify us."
The judge who signed the original 2003 warrant has retired. The case was assigned to the court of the judge who replaced him, but the offense didn't fall under that court's responsibility, officials said.
Oldner said that, as the Collin County administrative judge, the case was his. But Oldner said he was unaware Maupin was in the detention facility until Friday. Oldner added that Maupin should have been allowed to apply for a public defender.
"I'm disappointed this has happened. I am going to investigate," Oldner said.
Maupin is a masonry contractor, and said in a jailhouse interview that he didn't have the money for bail and that his friends and family couldn't afford to help him.
Besides the jury duty warrant, Maupin also had seven charges on his record for failing to pay tolls with fines totaling $2,236. Five of those cases were dropped by the court in March, and the remaining two were dropped for time served in April.
Maupin also had two outstanding warrants for a speeding ticket and driving with no insurance in Arlington, but a police spokesman told the newspaper that a municipal judge has agreed to drop the charges and allow him to be released on time served.
Maupin wrote a letter to the newspaper about his lengthy jail stay, prompting the media inquiry.
"I understand I am partially responsible, but I just want my day in court," he said during a jailhouse interview. "I do know I have the right to due process and a speedy trial. I've had neither. It's not right."
