Judge jails Wexford pizza shop owner for being ‘self-centered jerk' during jury selection

PITTSBURGH — The owner of a popular Pittsburgh-area pizza shop was released from jail Tuesday, about 18 hours after a judge sent him there for being a “self-centered jerk” during jury selection of a homicide trial.

According to Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLIVE, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David Cashman said 35-year-old Robert Cenci Jr. disrupted the jury process on Monday when he answered his questionnaire in an effort to not be selected for the trial of Michael Lapaglia.

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Lapaglia is accused of killing John Parkes, his aunt’s fiancé, last year.

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Assistant District Attorney Melissa Byrnes told Cashman that Cenci, the owner of Cenci's Restaurant, Pizzeria & Bar on Perry Highway in Wexford, asked how long he was under subpoena. She responded, “4:30 p.m.”

Byrnes said she then heard Cenci say, “This is a waste of my (expletive) time.”

TribLIVE reports that when lawyers in the case summoned Cenci to talk to him about his jury questionnaire answers, he asked Lapaglia, "Did you do it?"

“It's obvious to any third-grader as to what he was doing,” Cashman said. “He was jerking us around.”

Cashman ordered Cenci to spend the night in the county jail, TribLIVE reports.

On Tuesday, sheriff's deputies brought Cenci into the courtroom in handcuffs, and he apologized for his behavior.

“I'm so embarrassed with the way I acted yesterday,” said Cenci. “I was frustrated ... this is not the kind of man I am.”

The judge ordered Cenci to be released.

WPXI