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Apr 28, 2008 6:47 pm US/Eastern
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Trial Begins For Uma Thurman's Alleged Stalker
Star Of 'Pulp Fiction,' 'Kill Bill' Expected To Testify
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The trial of a man accused of stalking film star Uma Thurman is underway in Lower Manhattan on Monday. As CBS 2 HD tells us, the actress will be the star witness in the case.
A former mental patient's note that his hands should be on Thurman's body "at all times" may be creepy but it is not criminal, a lawyer said Monday in defense of a man accused of stalking the "Kill Bill" actress.
Lawyer George Vomvolakis told the state Supreme Court jury in his opening statement that defendant Jack Jordan "does not think the way you and I think. He doesn't know the boundaries you and I know. He thinks it's romantic."
But Assistant District Attorney Colleen Walsh told the jurors that Jordan had tried to communicate with Thurman sporadically for more than two years, "with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten and alarm" her.
Walsh said Jordan used "emotional blackmail" to try to get to the "Pulp Fiction" star. She said he sent her family an e-mail saying, "I will kill myself if I do not get to see Uma Thurman within 24 to 48 hours."
Walsh said Thurman's family kept that and several other e-mails from the actress because they knew the messages would cause her fear. The prosecutor said Thurman, 37, and her family members will testify about the messages from Jordan.
Walsh said Jordan escalated his contact attempts by showing up at a Lower Manhattan movie set on Nov. 8, 2005, where Thurman was filming "My Super Ex Girlfriend" and tried to get into her trailer.
The prosecutor said Jordan also appeared at Thurman's Greenwich Village home, where she lives with her two children, and rang her doorbell. At one point, one of Thurman's employees came out and found him sitting on her steps, Walsh said.
Thurman's brother took the stand on Monday, telling the judge he received a phone call made to their parents' home from Jordan in April of 2005.
"He claimed to be a friend of the family, wanted to get Uma's personal phone number, then began to break down emotionally, saying if he didn't get my sister's phone number, he would kill himself within 24 to 48 hours," Thurman's brother said.
Also on the stand was Lisa Grondin, Thurman's personal assistant. She confirmed Thurman's account that in 2005 Jordan showed up at the actress's trailer.
Vomvolakis said his client had no intention to harass or threaten Thurman because he loved her, and he said so in a letter to her.
"Creepy? Yes. Obsessed? yes. Criminal? No," the defense lawyer told the jury.
Jordan, 37, is on trial on misdemeanor charges of stalking and aggravated harassment. He was arrested in October 2007 after being accused of following and trying to contact Thurman from early 2005 until just before his arrest.
Vomvolakis had said in January he hoped to avoid a trial and work out a plea deal in which Jordan would enter a psychiatric treatment program.
He said Jordan had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Jordan is free on $10,000 bail. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Chicago and is a graduate student at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., his attorney said. Jordan now lives in Maryland with his parents.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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