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A rare sense of humor was on display at the Florida Supreme Court today, and  it came during the case of a juror who was sent to jail for being drunk.

It was just after 12 noon when we med Noel Plank sitting on his front porch.

“I’m okay. Just sitting her chilling, having a beer on my day off.”

At about the same time of day18 months ago, Noel Plank showed up for jury duty.  “I was still able to walk, I wasn’t stuttering, wasn’t slurring my words or nothing. I was walking a straight line. Ands I didn’t cause no harm to nobody” says Plank.

He left in handcuffs, sentenced to 30 days for disrupting jury selection.

“He was drunk apparently asked Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente.

Now Florida’s Supreme Court is being asked if someone can be sent to jail without first having a lawyer. The case brought plenty of chuckles to usually reserved justices. It began when Chief Justice Jorge Labarga mentioned  “I don’t recall seeing a contempt case since I’ve been here” to which Justice Fred Lewis responded “We lock them up without lawyers, right?.” Labarga kept the banter going, saying “And they are still in custody and we haven’t heard from them since.”

While humor abounded….the case is as serious as high court cases can get.

Justices made it clear they don’t want to take away any authority of a judge to control the courtroom.

Plank’s lawyer, Colleen Mullen, says if he can go to jail without a lawyer, anybody can. “Anybody can be held in contempt, but I’m arguing that they should not be thrown in jail without the right to an attorney.”

As for Noel Plank…he just wants to be left alone telling us “I love critters. In fact, I got all the critters in the world coming through my yard.”

Noel Plank still has a drivers license…and that means he’s still eligible for jury duty.