0
CHICAGO: Tickets to see talk show queen Oprah Winfrey in the flesh were at issue Monday during jury selection in the case against a Chicago businessman accused of assisting a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
A potential juror asked US District Judge Harry Leinenweber that she be excused from jury questioning because she had a ticket to the taping of one of the final episodes of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Tuesday.
Winfrey is wrapping up production of her wildly popular daytime television program after a 25-year run.
While Judge Leinenweber did tell the juror she could attend the taping, she was not off the hook completely and was asked to return to court on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the US attorney's office.
It was the second time in as many weeks that judges have granted scheduling exceptions to allow potential jurors to attend the show.
During jury selection in the retrial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, a judge eventually dismissed a woman who also had the highly prized tickets to the television show and was concerned her jury duty would prevent her from attending.
Opening statements in the case of businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana are not expected until May 23.
The 50-year-old is charged with providing material support to extremists by acting as a messenger and providing a cover for a key figure in the bloody 60-hour siege of India's largest city in which 166 people died.
David Coleman Headley - an old friend from military school in Pakistan - has been cooperating with prosecutors since his 2009 arrest and will be a star witness at Rana's trial.
Jurors are also expected to hear a series of conversations between the two men secretly recorded by the FBI.
Headley formally admitted to 12 terror charges in March 2010 after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty or to allow him to be extradited to either India, Pakistan or Denmark to face related charges.
