Posted on 08/18/2004 9:54:24 PM PDT by Nonesuch
Oprah jury convicts Chicago August 19, 2004 - 1:17PM
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is screened by security as she enters the Cook County Courthouse in Chicago to serve as a juror.
Picture:Reuters
A United States jury that included TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey convicted a man of murder after a trial that turned into a media frenzy because of her presence in the jury box.
Jurors deliberated for more than two hours before convicting 27-year-old Dion Coleman of first-degree murder in the February 2002 shooting death of 23-year-old Walter Holley.
Coleman is to be sentenced in September and could face 45 years to life in prison.
"It's a huge reality check, there's a whole other world going on out there ... When your life intersects with others in this way, it is forever changed," Winfrey said outside the Cook County Criminal Courts Building, flanked by other jurors.
Winfrey, who was paid $US17.20 a day for her civic duty, said she planned to do a show about the trial next week with other jurors.
Winfrey's selection as a juror on Monday drew loads of attention to the trial.
Television cameras chronicled her moves outside and inside the bustling lobby of the courts building because cameras weren't allowed in the courtroom. Filling many of the seats in the cramped courtroom were more than a dozen reporters and sketch artists.
Even her lunches were the subject of coverage, from her failed quest to find a breadless turkey sandwich at the courthouse cafeteria to yesterday's court-provided meal of chicken and scalloped potatoes.
Winfrey called all the attention distracting.
"This is not good for the victim's family. ... This is not about Oprah Winfrey, the fact is a man has been murdered," Winfrey said.
Before she was chosen, Winfrey said she thought she was too opinionated to be picked as a juror, but lawyers on both sides approved.
"She was accepted by both parties and we want fair intelligent jurors on a jury whether it's Miss Winfrey or anyone else," Prosecutor Kathy Van Kampen said outside court.
Van Kampen said all the hoopla had no effect on the trial.
- AP
...she planned to do a show about the trial next week with other jurors
Oh yeah right...it was all about the man that was murdered. Her show is stale and she needed a new angle.
I knew she was guilty! sure did. uh huh
Me too
That's only possible if the suspect was completely without a defense. Everybody deserves more protection than that.
"Oprah jury convicts Chicago August 19, 2004 - 1:17PM
Posted on 08/18/2004 9:54:24 PM PDT by Nonesuch"
What?
In 3 days he'd be innocent? 4?
wasnova wrote:
A two day trial?You hit the nail on the head -- earlier articles mentioned that the defendant would not testify in his own defense.That's only possible if the suspect was completely without a defense. Everybody deserves more protection than that.
Oddly enough, the only reference I can find to this is in a different Australian newspaper:
During questioning of the pool of 50 potential jurors, Judge Linn asked whether any of them would be prejudiced against the defendant if he decided not to testify.
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