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May 1, 2008 11:15 pm US/Eastern
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Thurman 'Disturbed, Terrified' By Accused Stalker
Oscar-Nominated Actress Takes Stand For First Time In Manhattan Court
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A visibly shaken Uma Thurman took the stand inside a Manhattan courtroom Thursday to face the man accused of stalking her for more than two years.
Court officers escorted the 'Kill Bill' actress through a side entrance of the state Supreme Court building. The actress — wearing dark glasses and a long wool camel jacket over dark pants — kept her head down and ignored a horde of reporters and photographers.
Once in court, she gave a detailed description of when the suspect, 37-year-old graduate student Jack Jordan, contacted her family.
Jordan is charged with stalking Thurman since 2005, when he began parading her and her family with e-mails, phone calls, and letters.
On the stand Thursday, an emotional Thurman described Jordan's attempts to contact her.
"I found them disturbing. I found this was clearly someone very frustrated and in pain, angry and calm and going in and out of reality," she said. "And then I found a few things that were frightening – to have a stranger mention the name of my children, I found very disturbing."
On a movie shoot in Manhattan in 2005, an envelope was dropped off for Thurman. Inside was a postcard with writing on the back that was blacked out and a religious confirmation card with a drawing on the back depicting a razor blade with stick figures and a grave.
"I was completely freaked out," she said, referring to the postcard. "It was almost like a nightmare, it was scary."
In e-mails to Thurman's father, who testified on Tuesday, Jordan referred to dying, to suicide, to a razor blade, and threatening to use it. The Oscar-nominated actress repeatedly said she found the communications "disturbing, terrifying, frightening."
When asked why she never sought a restraining order against Jordan, Thurman replied:
"I was hoping that if I just left him alone, he would just leave me alone. I was afraid of making it worse."
Jordan's attorney, George Vomvolakis, told CBS 2 that his client's actions were harmless.
"He didn't think he was scaring her at the time," Vomvolakis said. "She was probably afraid, but he didn't think at the time, at any of the times, he was causing her fear."
Jordan, who was arrested in Oct. 2007, is currently free on $10,000 bail. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Chicago and a graduate student at Mills College in Oakland, Calif, his attorney said. He now lives in Maryland with his parents.
Stay with wcbstv.com and CBS 2 for the latest in this developing story.
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