CHICAGO – In the hallowed halls of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse, crowds of television cameramen and reporters were clamoring for a comment – not from a defendant, but from a juror.
Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire head of a media conglomerate, had been tapped for jury duty in a murder case.
Winfrey, who was selected Monday, said she had been excused from the civic process twice before: once because of a trip to Africa, and the other because the duty would have conflicted with TV sweeps week. But this time, no vacation or ratings race prevented her from sitting in the jury box.
Like many of her fellow jurors, she wasn’t pleased.
“Oh, happy day,” Oprah grumbled when she learned that she was picked from the 50 possible jurors to spend at least three days hearing the case of Dion Coleman, who has been charged in the shooting death of Walter Holley.
Winfrey will be paid $17.20 a day for the service – compared to the estimated $493,151 she averages per day, based on 2003 figures. Her income last year reached $180 million, according to Forbes magazine.
In exchange, Winfrey is hearing the details of Coleman’s case, with opening arguments Monday. None of the town’s leading newspapers, TV stations or radio programs previously reported on the tale.
In February 2002, Coleman, 27, allegedly gave a counterfeit $50 bill to Holley, 23. The two men argued and began to strike at each other. Friends broke up the fight, authorities say. Later, Coleman allegedly approached Holley, this time carrying a gun. Coleman then shot and killed Holley, according to law enforcement officials.
“I would not have me on the jury, I am too opinionated,” Winfrey told a group of reporters Monday outside the courtroom. “Nearly everything that I can hear in a trial, I have heard in my show.”
As so many others have done, Winfrey did see a chance to get out of jury duty. On Monday, Judge James Linn asked the prospective jurors whether they would hold it against Coleman if he refused to testify. One woman raised her hand.
When the judge peered over his bench and asked the woman’s name, she simply replied: “Oprah.”
But later, when Linn pressed Winfrey about the matter, the talk-show host acknowledged that she would be the kind of juror who would give a verdict based only on the evidence presented in court.
Four and a half hours later, Winfrey and the other jurors were sworn into service. Attorneys for both sides declined to comment on why Winfrey made the cut.
“I’m just hoping (the trial) doesn’t take longer than a week because I’ve got shows to do,” she said.
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