You Can’t Make This Stuff Up. Well, You Can, But It Would Be Deemed Unbelievable

September 12th, 2005 · 1 Comment
by Booksquare

Admittedly, our fascination with the recent Michael Jackson trial was limited to the idea that a lot of people were being introduced to the idea that Santa Maria is a real city. Then, of course, came the jurors and their book deals, sort of like rainbows after rain. As we weren’t planning to purchase and/or read these first-hand accounts of harrowing deliberations and mind-changing, we rely upon the media to keep us updated.

And you rely upon us to point out that the world is, indeed, stupider than you thought. You all remember Ray Hultman, right? He was one of the jurors who confessed that he thought Jackson was guilty. Oh sure, his revelation came after it mattered, but life is funny that way. Hultman is now trying to back out of his book deal, citing a slew of reasons, a few of which are too much fun. And, yes, we are making fun of people.

“Plaintiff’s reliance on Garrison’s [Larry Garrison, owner of the Lake Sherwood-based SilverCreek Entertainment] representations was justified in light of their aforementioned simplicity, naiveté, overly trusting natures, lack of sophistication and inexperience, and Garrison’s motivational skills and ability to ‘sell’ and promote himself and/or his business ventures,” according to the suit.

Our favorite is this:

Attached to the lawsuit are two hand-written contracts signed by Hultman, his wife and Garrison. In the first contract, signed June 28, the Hultmans granted Garrison rights to Hultman’s story in exchange for half of all proceeds for any book or movie deals.

Yes, because time was so much of the essence that nobody could be bothered to type something up using a handy laptop. Sheesh. Greedy much?

There are also a few useful tidbits about Hultman and emotional distress, plagiarism, writing book proposals, and people who deny all connection to the events. We assure you this worth reading in its entirety.

File Under: Square Pegs

1 response so far ↓

  • Lorra // Sep 13, 2005 at 7:19 am

    Perhaps I misunderstood: it was supposed to be thirty seconds of fame, not a lifetime of shame. Disgusting!