O.J. Simpson Case Consultant, Trial Expert Help Pick 12 Jurors In Maas Vs. KUSI Suit

By Ken Stone, Times of San Diego

February 9, 2023

Eight men and four women will decide whether veteran San Diego news anchor Sandra Maas should collect millions from her old employer, KUSI-TV, in a closely watched pay equity case.

But lawyers for Maas and the conservative station owned by McKinnon Broadcasting Co. took no chances in picking that jury Wednesday in downtown Superior Court.

Ever heard of Richard Gabriel and Sonia Chopra? Probably not.

They’re litigation consultants who played key roles this week— tapping decades of experience and thousands of trials as they helped select the San Diego jury.

Ever heard of O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony?

Los Angeles-based Gabriel advised lawyers who won acquittals in their celebrated murder cases. His website bio boasts: “CBS News has said that Mr. Gabriel is, ‘by reputation, one of the best trial consultants in the country.’” A regular TV guest, he wrote the book “Acquittal: An Insider Reveals the Stories and Strategies Behind Today’s Most Infamous Verdicts.”

Alameda-based Chopra is no slouch either.

With a doctorate in psychology, she’s been a board member of the American Society of Trial Consultants and helped produce the trial manual “Jurywork: Systematic Techniques.” She shares her wisdom via articles and podcasts.

Opening statements are Tuesday morning in Judge Ronald Frazier’s Department 65 in the Hall of Justice. A dozen jurors and three alternates (two women and a man) will hear evidence of Maas’ claims of being paid “substantially less” than Allen Denton, her male co-anchor up till 2019, in violation of state law.

But in “mini-openings statements” to 45 prospective jurors Wednesday, attorneys Josh Gruenberg (Maas) and Ken Fitzgerald (KUSI) signaled their cases.

“Miss Maas will tell you that the termination came as a shock to her,” Gruenberg said in his 4 1/2-minute pitch. “She had been in the San Diego market for many, many years and had worked hard to establish a reputation in the industry. Working at KUSI was [her] identity. … We believe the evidence will support an emotional distress award, in this case many times more than the earnings she lost.”

Said Fitzgerald (cut off by Judge Frazier after 5 1/2 minutes):

“Mr. Denton had a higher starting salary than Miss Maas because he was a better, more accomplished, more experienced anchor and he ended with a higher salary than Miss Maas because those things all remained true throughout their time co-anchoring the news together. They were doing the same job, They were not doing it the same way. Mr. Denton worked harder.”

During voir dire — the questioning of people to select a fair and impartial jury — Judge Frazier quizzed a wide variety of folks, including a married couple, two attorneys, retired Navy officers and police, and even a former Montreal Expos minor-league shortstop.

With no jurors in the room, Frazier let the sides know that “I try to keep things light in my courtroom” but was serious about running a fair trial.

Frazier at one point asked jurors if they could resist the temptation to investigate the case independently. One who couldn’t raised his hand.

“Unfortunately, I don’t believe in the system,” he said.

Later, the pool was asked: “Does anyone not want to be here?”

The system critic again raised his hand — and was later excused.

The pool wasn’t asked if they held strong views about KUSI — only whether they’ve seen Maas, likely witness Paul Rudy (specifically his “Prep Pigskin Report”) and which local news they watch.

But some pool members shared their animus anyway.

One woman conceded having a “bias against misinformation that comes out [of KUSI],” adding: “I don’t always think that KUSI is fact-based.”

Another said: “I used to watch KUSI. The misinformation was so bad I had to turn it off” and “it would be hard to believe what I’m hearing” from the KUSI side.

A third said they’ve “always viewed [the station] as frivolous.”

With Maas directed to leave the courtroom, her attorney Gruenberg asked some probing questions: “How do you feel about emotional distress damages?” and “Do you need a formula to award money (for such damages)?”

Among other things, KUSI attorney Fitzgerald asked:

He even asked: Anyone use the word “patriarchy”?

Then for a half-hour, the jury box became a game of musical chairs as one after another potential panelist was excused and others moved into their warm seats.

With the two consultants passing notes or whispering cues, KUSI’s Fitzgerald excused four people and passed three times, while Maas lawyer Gruenberg excused four as well.

By 5 p.m., after a seven-minute sidebar, 15 people were seated and sworn in, with the judge saying both sides think they’d all make excellent jurors.

Among a handful of spectators — including KUSI founder Mike McKinnon Sr. and his HR director Sally Luck — was a former Texas assistant attorney general who moved to San Diego five years ago.

Esther Fraser of Carmel Valley, with a La Jolla law office, said she was checking out the judge, assigned to one of her cases — a business dispute. She wanted to see how Frazier ran jury selection.

But she also was curious about the jurors themselves.

“Even though the lawyers interpret the law and explain the law, at the end of the day, the justice falls in the hands of the jurors,” Fraser said. “So it simply was important for me to see what type of jurors came into this courtroom.”

Fraser was impressed with the voir dire.

One question caught her eye: Whether if you sign a contract you have no say in what happens to you.

“Yeah, that was a very good question because I think that helps identify a lot of bad jurors for that side,” the Maas side, she said outside the courtroom.

Fraser, who has done jury consulting, also is married to a jury consultant.

“The purpose of jury selection is to figure out who is a bad juror for your side,” she said. “You don’t want to identify the good jurors for the other side. You want to identify the bad jurors for your side and ask them a bunch of questions that will maybe get them to think and say that they can’t be fair to your side.”

Fraser called the sworn panel interesting.

“Obviously, gender is an issue in this case, and one of the rows [of six seats] was all men,” she noted.

That might not make such a difference, though, because “a lot of men, as we heard in there, are all for gender equality. But I just thought it was very interesting how … the panel had a lot more men than women.”

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