Kemo
03-02-2016, 03:37 AM
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After months of delays and drama, Pinellas County Court in Florida was the site of the beginning of the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker civil trial. Hogan sued the new media company in October 2012, just days after their flagship nd namesake blog posted an article accompanied by a “highlight reel” of a video that included Hogan having a sexual encounter with Heather Cole, then known as Heather Clem, wife of radio show host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Hogan has always sworn that he had no idea he was being filmed.
The short video included about eight seconds total of actual sexual contact, which Gawker claims was solely to authenticate that this was the actual rumored sex tape (and posting any video authenticating that the video cited in the article was real). The article mused about how “unsexy” the video was while musing about the public’s interest in celebrity sex tapes in general. The video was quickly pulled and Hogan almost got the article pulled, but the latter was kept on the site after Gawker appealed. Gawker’s defense is that the Hogan, largely via appearances on both Clem and Howard Stern’s radio shows, had made his sex life a matter of public interest.
The trial proper starts next Monday, with jury selection beginning today, with Hogan tweeting about it early this morning:
Time for the real main event!"I AM" going to slam another Giant! Hogan vrs Gawker! Watcha Gonna Do Gawker? Only Justice Brother HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) March 1, 2016
Anna M. Phillips is has the details at the Tampa Bay Times website, both in a traditional article and a collection of her live tweets. Here are the key things to take away from today:
Some of the potential jurors seemed excited by the proposition of this being the trial they might serve on if they didn’t get out of jury duty.
There were 250 potential jurors in each session, with one morning session and one afternoon session. The 14 page juror questionnaire included, on top of standard questions about potential conflicts of interest via work and family, included queries such as “Do you follow celebrity news?” and “Have you ever had private information posted online without your consent?“
CNN Money included another question from the 12 page questionnaire: “This case involves images depicting sex and nudity, and the use of profanity. Would receiving and viewing this type of content affect your ability to serve as a fair and impartial juror in this case?“
By the end of the day, they were whittled down to 106 potential jurors who will return tomorrow, with most of the pool running for the hills when they found out that the the trial would most likely last about three weeks.
Several jurors “scoffed audibly” when it was explained that Gawker’s defense is that the video was “a matter of public concern.”
Attorney David Houston w/ client #hulkhogan vs. Gawker Media. Jury selection begins, St. Petersburg. @TB_Times pic.twitter.com/dqN1hKwHZc
— Scott Keeler (@SKeelerTimes) March 1, 2016
There will be a hearing in the case on Friday, which will mostly deal with what portions of different deposition testimony can be admitted. Legal experts don’t expect Hogan to prevail in the end, with Stephen MacNamara of Florida State University’s College of Communication and Information telling the Courtroom View Network last week that the video being recorded in someone else’s home reducing the expectation of privacy on top of giving credence to Gawker’s first amendment arguments. According to McNamara, a Hogan win being upheld on appeal “would change the face of a whole lot of things.”
After months of delays and drama, Pinellas County Court in Florida was the site of the beginning of the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker civil trial. Hogan sued the new media company in October 2012, just days after their flagship nd namesake blog posted an article accompanied by a “highlight reel” of a video that included Hogan having a sexual encounter with Heather Cole, then known as Heather Clem, wife of radio show host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Hogan has always sworn that he had no idea he was being filmed.
The short video included about eight seconds total of actual sexual contact, which Gawker claims was solely to authenticate that this was the actual rumored sex tape (and posting any video authenticating that the video cited in the article was real). The article mused about how “unsexy” the video was while musing about the public’s interest in celebrity sex tapes in general. The video was quickly pulled and Hogan almost got the article pulled, but the latter was kept on the site after Gawker appealed. Gawker’s defense is that the Hogan, largely via appearances on both Clem and Howard Stern’s radio shows, had made his sex life a matter of public interest.
The trial proper starts next Monday, with jury selection beginning today, with Hogan tweeting about it early this morning:
Time for the real main event!"I AM" going to slam another Giant! Hogan vrs Gawker! Watcha Gonna Do Gawker? Only Justice Brother HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) March 1, 2016
Anna M. Phillips is has the details at the Tampa Bay Times website, both in a traditional article and a collection of her live tweets. Here are the key things to take away from today:
Some of the potential jurors seemed excited by the proposition of this being the trial they might serve on if they didn’t get out of jury duty.
There were 250 potential jurors in each session, with one morning session and one afternoon session. The 14 page juror questionnaire included, on top of standard questions about potential conflicts of interest via work and family, included queries such as “Do you follow celebrity news?” and “Have you ever had private information posted online without your consent?“
CNN Money included another question from the 12 page questionnaire: “This case involves images depicting sex and nudity, and the use of profanity. Would receiving and viewing this type of content affect your ability to serve as a fair and impartial juror in this case?“
By the end of the day, they were whittled down to 106 potential jurors who will return tomorrow, with most of the pool running for the hills when they found out that the the trial would most likely last about three weeks.
Several jurors “scoffed audibly” when it was explained that Gawker’s defense is that the video was “a matter of public concern.”
Attorney David Houston w/ client #hulkhogan vs. Gawker Media. Jury selection begins, St. Petersburg. @TB_Times pic.twitter.com/dqN1hKwHZc
— Scott Keeler (@SKeelerTimes) March 1, 2016
There will be a hearing in the case on Friday, which will mostly deal with what portions of different deposition testimony can be admitted. Legal experts don’t expect Hogan to prevail in the end, with Stephen MacNamara of Florida State University’s College of Communication and Information telling the Courtroom View Network last week that the video being recorded in someone else’s home reducing the expectation of privacy on top of giving credence to Gawker’s first amendment arguments. According to McNamara, a Hogan win being upheld on appeal “would change the face of a whole lot of things.”