Jackson Juror Sues to Get Out of Book Deal
Mood:  bright
Topic: Main News
By Associated Press

September 9, 2005, 9:09 PM EDT

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- A juror in the Michael Jackson case who said last month he believed the pop star was guilty of molesting his 15-year-old accuser has filed a lawsuit to get out of a book publishing contract.

Ray Hultman claims he was misled into signing a book deal with publisher Larry Garrison, owner of SilverCreek Entertainment.

Garrison said Friday he was unaware of the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Santa Maria Superior Court. "As far as I know I'm doing a book with him on the Jackson trial," he said.

Hultman, 62, wants out of the contract and is seeking unspecified damages for mental and emotional stress. He claims he was shocked by media reports last month that his book proposal contained material plagiarized from a Vanity Fair magazine article, and says that has damaged his reputation.

Also named in the lawsuit are his agent, Bill Gladstone, and author Stacy Brown. A contract attached to the lawsuit said Brown was to help write the book.

Brown called the lawsuit "laughable" and said he never agreed to co-author Hultman's book. He also denied the plagiarism allegations.

A message left for Gladstone was not immediately returned Friday.

James Nichols, Hultman's lawyer, said he has no idea how anything plagiarized got into the book.

"All I know is that Ray Hultman didn't write it. He just wants get on with his life," Nichols said.

Hultman has said he regretted finding Jackson not guilty in the June verdict. He and juror Eleanor Cook said on MSNBC last month that they went along with the other panelists because the jury foreman threatened to have them removed.

Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.