Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur Recht declared a mistrial Tuesday in a prescription drug fraud case because not enough people showed up for jury duty - and he plans to find out why the no-shows failed to report.

Jurors were called to hear the case against Mark C. Gary, 52, of 122 Ridgecrest Drive, Bethlehem. Gary is a pharmacist who is facing three counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, forgery or deception and one count of conspiracy.

Gary is charged with filling fraudulent prescriptions for lorcet/hydrocodone. The alleged violations happened between January and June 2007.

Tuesday's mistrial came after the prospective jury pool was reduced to fewer than 20 people.

"We called out 34, but nine did not show up," Recht said of the jurors. "We need 20 qualified jurors from which to select 12, but we were unable to get those because we had many who were excused for cause through the voir dire process. So we had to call a mistrial and the matter will be rescheduled for sometime during the next term of court."

The judge said those who failed to report for jury duty may bear some of the costs associated with the jury selection process.

"A rule to show cause shall be served upon them by a deputy sheriff of Ohio County," Recht said. "They will appear and they will show cause as to why they should not be held in contempt and fined up to $1,000. It's up to them to show the reasons why they failed to report."

Recht may have a way of paying prospective jurors.

"We still have to pay $40 a day plus mileage to those who showed up," he said. "Those that did not show up and have no good reason as to why they didn't show up could divide up among themselves the cost of paying this jury."