Judge puts Navy veteran in jail for 24 hours for not wearing a mask in courtroom

A North Carolina judge ordered a Navy-veteran juror to spend 24 hours in jail after he refused to wear a mask when he attended jury duty.

Judge Charles Gilchrist is the only judge in the courthouse who enforces a mask mandate for indoor events, according to the Daily Wire. Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper lifted the statewide mask mandate a year ago. 

The 47-year-old Navy veteran, Gregory Hahn, came in for jury duty on Monday and spent 24 hours in jail after refusing to wear a mask. 

Hahn told WRAL News that there were signs in the courthouse saying that no masks were required when he walked in.

According to the Clerk of Superior Court Renee Whittenton, Gilchrist enforces a mask mandate when he is doing cases. 

“You can go in any district courtroom without a mask, you can come into superior clerk court without a mask and the [district attorney’s] office without a mask, but with Judge Gilchrist he has a mandate that you must wear a mask,” Whittenton told WRAL News.

According to Hahn, the mask rule was hypocritical. 

“The irony of all this is the judge was talking to me without a mask,” Hahn told WRAL News. "I never thought this could happen in this country," Hahn concluded.