Juror's vacation to Mexico results in jail sentence

CINCINNATI -- A juror in a murder case was sent to jail for seven days Monday for going on vacation to Mexico in the middle of deliberations.

Christine Fiorini, 33, failed to show up after the long Presidents Day weekend, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. Deliberations were put on hold for a week while court officials tried to track her down.

Fiorini surfaced on Monday and was taken before the judge presiding over the trial.

"You'll have to sit there for seven days with all of the other knuckleheads up there, see what it's like. It's not a great place," Judge Robert Ruehlman told her.

Fiorini told the judge she thought he would be able to use the jury's alternate. Ruehlman had dismissed the alternate before deliberations began and after asking jurors if there was any reason they could not complete the case. Fiorini said nothing of her vacation plans at that time.

On trial was a woman accused of luring a man to a motel parking lot, where he was robbed and shot to death.