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Jury that Convicted ‘Crockefeller’ Was Led by Harvard Law Lecturer

Posted Jun 15, 2009 5:40 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A Harvard law lecturer who taught a course on children at risk led the jury that convicted a would-be Rockefeller of parental kidnapping.

Jurors rejected an insanity defense in the case of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who was found guilty on Friday of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter, Reigh, the New York Times reports. The jury foreman was Michael Gregory, TheBostonChannel.com reports. Gregory, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 2004, works in the law school’s Family and Children’s Law Unit on a project to address the special learning needs of children who have been abused, according to the school’s website.

Gerhartsreiter’s lawyer, Jeffrey Denner, told the Boston Globe he may seek an appeal as early as this week. Gerhartsreiter calls himself Clark Rockefeller and has been dubbed "Crockefeller" by some tabloids.

Denner had argued Gerhartsreiter believed he was able to communicate telepathically with Reigh, who told him she needed to be rescued, the Times says. He also argued that Gerhartsreiter really believed he was Clark Rockefeller and should not be convicted of giving a false name to police. “This is not a man playing with a full deck,” Denner had argued.

Jurors acquitted Gerhartsreiter of the false name charge, apparently on the basis of the defense argument, according to TheBostonChannel.com. "This was a complicated case and not as clear-cut as it might seem," Gregory said in a statement read after the verdict.

Gerhartsreiter is also considered a person of interest in the 1985 disappearance of a California couple, the Associated Press reports.

Comments

1.

B. McLeod
Jun 15, 2009 6:10 AM CST

This has to be the verdict that pretty much the whole world was expecting.  Now the defendant will have a long stretch in which to telepathically commune with the spirits of his prison cell.

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2.

T.R.
Jun 15, 2009 9:58 AM CST

I am somewhat surprised if Mr. Denner did not try to have Mr. Gregory dismissed from the pool at the outset.

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3.

George Patsourakos
Jun 15, 2009 12:04 PM CST

A Harvard law lecturer, who taught a course on children at risk, never should have been allowed to be a juror in the Gerhartsreiter case. Having Michael Gregory as a juror in this case is an insult to our justice system, because his work at Harvard—including a project that addressed the needs of children who were abused—is a clear indicator that he would show prejudice against the defendant. Having Gregory as a juror should result in a mistrial of this case, and having a new trial.

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4.

Sam Johnston
Jun 15, 2009 3:29 PM CST

I must agree with George. It was crazy to allow a child advocate on the jury… and even worse, as jury foreman.  What were people thinking???

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5.

B. McLeod
Jun 15, 2009 4:40 PM CST

Looks to me like it was a strategic decision to not challenge, and will not be basis for a reversal.  Note that the defense on the kidnapping charge was legal “insanity,” a shaky defense on these facts, and one which is almost always difficult to carry.  With facts this marginal, I can see why counsel would want a juror like Gregory (who might actually sympathize with the defendant if he bought the “rescue” motivation).

I see nothing in the story to suggest that the jury did anything other than follow the court’s instructions (indeed, they acquitted on the false name charge).  It is not proof of bias by anyone that the jury brought a kidnapping conviction, where the prosection had a prima facie case, and the defense had all its chips on “insanity.”

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