How Juror Tom Hanks Got Guy a Reduced Charge

Tom Hanks was just trying to do his civic duty, and he ended up inadvertently messing up a trial. Hanks was serving on a jury in LA this week, but when a lawyer in the City Attorney's Office made the mistake of talking to the actor, the case had to be settled with a plea deal. The prosecuting attorney revealed the interaction Tuesday and asked for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct, CNN reports. Instead, yesterday, both sides agreed to a reduced charge. The defendant initially faced up to a year in jail on domestic assault charges; the reduced disturbing the peace charge carries with it just a $150 fine.

So what did the lawyer approach Hanks about? He reportedly thanked the actor for his service. TMZ earlier reported that Hanks was either an awesome juror or just acting like one: taking lots of notes, listening closely, talking to the other jurors during the breaks, and laughing at one of the lawyer's jokes. The defense attorney confirms to CNN that, though he was initially skeptical of putting Hanks on the jury, "He never looked or made any statements like he wanted to get off jury duty. So based on everything, he seemed like a very fair juror." How would he have voted? The defense attorney says Hanks simply "looked at me like he always had, smiled and said, 'I was going to vote the way of justice.'" (More Tom Hanks stories.)