August 17, 2004
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter
When Judge James Linn asked 50 prospective jurors Monday whether they would hold it against the accused murderer if he refused to testify, only one woman raised her hand.
"Your name, please?" Linn asked, peering down from the bench.
"Oprah," she replied.
A few minutes later, things got a tad testy between the talk-show host and Linn but it didn't matter -- Oprah Winfrey made the cut anyway.
"Oh, happy day," Oprah muttered sarcastically after she was picked to hear a murder case that's scheduled to last three days at the Criminal Courthouse.
Since the Sun-Times first reported last week that Oprah was to report for jury duty Monday, many veteran court observers said there was zero chance she would get picked -- she'd be too much of a distraction in court, they said confidently.
One sheriff's deputy had an answer for that Monday: "They're throwing snowballs in hell. Who would have thought?"
Attorneys on both sides of the case refused to discuss their decision to keep Oprah, or why they didn't exercise their right to have her automatically bounced from the jury.
Earlier in the day, Oprah -- wearing her red "juror" sticker on an elegant black-and-white sweater and cradling a copy of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (her current book club book) -- predicted she wouldn't be picked.
''If I were [a lawyer], I wouldn't pick me," she said, chatting to reporters in the courthouse lobby. "I can have an open mind, but I'm really too opinionated.
"I'm hoping it won't take longer than a week, because I've got shows to do," she added.
Then she wandered off to the courthouse cafeteria, smiling and waving at fans along the way. She headed for the buffet, in search of a turkey sandwich without bread, but instead settled on two scoops of tuna salad and bottled water. She happily signed autographs.
After lunch, Judge Linn launched into a series of questions to prospective jurors. That's when Oprah raised her hand. But Linn didn't probe deeper until later, when each juror was questioned individually.
Things began on a comical note as Linn asked Oprah to introduce herself.
"I'm Oprah Winfrey," the talk-show host said to a chorus of giggles. "I've lived in Chicago since 1983, and I have a little talk show."
Then Linn got serious, wanting to know just what kind of juror Oprah would make.
"Mr. Coleman might not get a fair trial from you?" he asked.
"I'm just saying I like to hear both sides of the story," Oprah replied.
But Linn wasn't satisfied.
"You will not hold it against [the accused] if he does not testify?" Linn asked again.
Linn told Oprah she seemed to be hesitating.
"No, I won't hold it against him," said Oprah, looking increasingly uncomfortable.
A little later, Oprah and 11 other jurors -- and two alternates -- were sworn in.
Then, what had seemed almost a side show to the main event got under way -- the trial of Dion Coleman, 27, accused of shooting Walter Holley, 23, in a dispute over $50 in February 2002.
Oprah sat in the front row of the jury box, looking intently at the attorneys and occasionally taking notes.
If Oprah wasn't particularly thrilled about being in court, she didn't show it to the other juror candidates Monday. At one point, she reached out and squeezed the hand of one prospective juror, and even engaged in a friendly debate about the Illinois Senate race.
"I love Barack [Obama]," she said.
By 6:30 p.m., a weary-looking Oprah -- who had been in the courthouse since 10:15 a.m. -- was escorted out of the courtroom through a back way. As most other jurors headed for the court parking lot, Oprah was whisked away in a big black SUV amid heavy security.
http://www.suntimes....ws-oprah17.html
Riiiight. Having Oprah Winfrey on a jury couldn't hurt the trial process at all, right? Right?