By: E&P Staff Miami Herald columnist Ana Veciana-Suarez was fined $5,000 and ordered to serve 60 hours of community service for failing to disclose her father's criminal history during jury selection for a 2003 federal civil trial, the Herald reported Friday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen T. Brown Thursday also imposed 18 months of probation to go along with the community service, which requires Veciana-Suarez to speak to public-school students about ''the propriety of telling the truth'' during pre-trial jury questioning.
Herald Executive Editor Tom Fiedler said he will not take any action against Veciana-Suarez. ''Ana's record of integrity spanning more than 25 years with The Miami Herald has been without blemish,'' Fiedler said. "This single act, for which she has expressed genuine remorse, did not occur in the course of her duties or responsibilities as a journalist. As a result, this isn't an issue in which The Miami Herald needs to become involved.''
The Herald said Brown's sentence was harsher than the joint recommendation of Veciana-Suarez's attorney and federal prosecutors, following her agreement to plead guilty last month to a petty misdemeanor.
Brown said the offense was ''extremely serious'' because Veciana-Suarez lied under oath, noting that the columnist wrote regularly about values such as honesty, trust, and integrity.
Veciana-Suarez, who's syndicated by Tribune Media Services, expressed regret. ''I was wrong. I can say that now,'' she told the judge, explaining that she refrained from revealing her father's 1974 drug-trafficking conviction in New York because she wanted to protect him. "That wrong decision will haunt me the rest of my life.''
The columnist also told the judge that, despite her misconduct during jury selection, "I do believe I remained an unbiased juror.''
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