The Celebrity Factor

You know... you have a good point and I wanted to believe that. But just think about how lady justice was tricked in the Robert Blake case. I was sure the jury could care less about Beretta and wouldn't know Robert Blake from the moon. But I had to eat crow on that because the jury proved to be starstruck.

Just because these celebrities are not "on the scene" like an OJ or Michael Jackson does not mean that they are still not celebrities. It does not mean that the judges don't still give them celebrity treatment in their rulings. And its starstriking to the jury because of who they are, the people they bring into the courtroom, and the people they associate themselves with.

Just think of all the great singers Court TV had on during the trial that testifed to Phil Spector's character (and why Court TV is bringing that in during a criminal trial makes no sense to me)... but don't tell me that the juries don't go home and watch the television coverage of the cases and read the newspapers.

Even if they had not known Phil Spector before, they quickly learned... theres a celebrity in the courtroom!

From what my sources told me, 11 of the 12 prevailed in the jury room to hand down the right verdict. At one point it was 11 to 1 to convict, at another point it was 10 to 1 to convict, according to my sources.

But from my analysis of the case, it was really this one hold out who was really strong and just refused to look at the evidence. He was starstruck. He just could not vote Guilty.

So, the reality is that juries are starstruck. We've seen it time and time agian... even in places where we think it won't be a problem like Robert Blake.