A Fox News Channel producer was tossed out of the Clara Harris murder trial in
Houston Wednesday for improper contact with an alternate juror.
The producer, Keri Ellor, is a booker for The O'Reilly Factor and was
dispatched to Houston to line up guests, including jurors, for a show after the
verdict was rendered.
Harris is accused of killing her husband by running over him with her Mercedes after she allegedly caught him having an affair.
Ellor apparently contacted an alternate juror, leaving a message for the
juror to call her when the trial was over.
That juror relayed the news to the judge, who proceeded to reprimand Ellor in
front of a full courtroom, scolding her for contacting a juror before the trial
had ended.
"She was a little overenthusiastic," O'Reilly executive producer
David Tabacoff said of his show's booker. "She made it clear that she didn't want
anything until after the trial was over."
The judge was obviously more upset, banning Ellor from the courthouse.
Ellor gets to keep her O'Reilly Factor job, though.
Tabacoff does plan to instruct bookers more thoroughly on guidelines. "We
need to be more explicit about dos and don'ts," he said. "We need to be better
about people understanding the ramifications."
