As part of Mr. Somerville’s community service, he must report to the jury office once a week to deliver a 10-minute talk about the importance of jury duty.

“I see the importance of it now,” he said Friday.

But on the morning of Aug. 21, when he was supposed to report for the opening of a trial in a negligence case involving an automobile accident, Mr. Somerville said: “My first reaction when I woke up was, ‘Oh shoot, I overslept.’” He said that he should have notified the court, but that he had been nervous about the repercussions.

“That should have been the first thing I should have done,” he said. “I thought maybe the most I could get was a fine.”

Not long after missing jury duty, he said, the police showed up at his home, where he lives with his grandparents.

He said his grandparents told him, “The best thing you can do is be honest.”

Mr. Somerville was one of six jurors seated in the negligence case in the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida in West Palm Beach. Judge John S. Kastrenakes chewed out Mr. Somerville during a Sept. 20 hearing, according to a court transcript.