Celebrity Case re Bad Grass Day
Because of international publicity, the judge has exponentially expanded the jury pool. The defense team includes famed celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred. The issue: whether 70-year-old Betty Perry violated a municipal ordinance in Orem, Utah, by allowing her lawn to get too brown.
The feisty septuagenarian is facing misdemeanor charges not only over an alleged lack of lawn-watering but for resisting arrest in an incident sparked when she reportedly refused to give her name to a police officer ticketing her last summer for unsightly brown grass. Although her case is scheduled to go to trial in February, jury selection is getting under way now because of concerns about the difficulty of selecting an unbiased panel due to extensive pretrial publicity, reports the Daily Herald.
City prosecutor Andrew Peterson sought and obtained an expanded jury pool of 125 individuals, in order to have a fighting chance of selecting four unbiased jurors without calling for additional reinforcements. “Because of the interest this case has generated we’re going to try to start with a much larger jury pool to be able to eliminate people that have preconceived notions about it or have already made up their minds one way or the another,” he says.
There’s no word on whether the two sides see any hope of reaching a plea deal before the scheduled trial date next year.
