News & Politics

Jayson Werth Sentenced to Ten Days in Jail for Speeding Violation

The Nationals outfielder was going 50 miles per hour above the posted limit.

Photograph by Carol Ross Joynt.

A Fairfax County judge has ordered Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth to spend ten days in jail after finding him guilty of reckless driving for going well above a posted speed limit.

Werth was pulled over the morning of July 6 on Route 193 in Fairfax County for going 105 miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone, according to court records. He was in the Nationals’ lineup later that day, going 0-for-3 with a walk in Washington’s 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs.

The 35-year-old ballplayer was charged in August with reckless driving, a misdemeanor that in Virginia can carry a sentence of up to 180 days behind bars when a motorist is going more than 20 miles per hour over the limit. (For a similar case, read Jalopnik writer Patrick George‘s account of spending a weekend in jail after being pulled over during a test drive in Rappahannock County.)

Werth plans to appeal the sentence.

Find Benjamin Freed on Twitter at @brfreed.

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.