Victoria Osteen Trial – Verdict

Two and a half hours

• equals the time it took the jury to decide that there was not enough evidence to support a charge of assault and injury.
• equals the amount of time Ms. Osteen delayed the flight on which she caused a fuss over a small liquid spill which started this ball rolling.

Kind of fitting isn’t it?  If only the trial had lasted 2 1/2 hours!

The jury’s foreman, Gilles Labbe, said he and other jurors believed what happened on the plane was not an attack but a disagreement between a passenger and one or more flight attendants.  “This lawsuit in my opinion should not have been filed because nothing happened,” he said.

Joel Osteen had this to say:

“It’s a great vindication and shows us the faithfulness of God.”

I think it’s important to remember that indeed an incident took place.  I’ve read many comments of people who suggest that Ms. Osteen was completely innocent and justified for her behavior.  This jury concluded that she is innocent of the assault.  I believe she is guilty of making some pretty bad decisions and handling the aftermath of those decisions poorly.

We all make mistakes.  We all get ourselves pretty deep in situations where there doesn’t seem any way out.  Our ability to admit our mistakes and make some different decisions is called repentance.

The world was watching whether Ms. Osteen would display repentance or continue to behave badly.

We are still waiting.

Pondering Pastor

Victoria Osteen Trial – To the Jury

Reading the news reports makes me believe this one is going to go Victoria Osteen’s way.

Closing statements are made today.

An attorney for a Continental Airlines flight attendant asked a jury Thursday to award his client at least $405,000 for physical and mental pain suffered in an alleged attack by the wife of megachurch pastor Joel Osteen.

Not reported here previously:

Claudia Hall, a former Continental flight attendant, testified by video deposition she was falsely accused by Brown of hitting and pushing her into the bathroom wall of a plane in November 1995.

That’s probably the most damaging piece to Brown’s case, at least, I rank it higher than 3 passengers seeing no altercation.

It will be interesting to see what the jury does once they finally get the case.

Pondering Pastor

Victoria Osteen Trial – Day 4

The attorney for Ms. Brown rested their case today.  That meant that Ms. Osteen’s attorney took over.

Today’s testimony featured three first-class passengers.

“There wasn’t anything that occurred that she could be suing over,” said Laura Knoppe, who was sitting in the first row of first-class seats, closest to where Brown said the attack took place.  She said she never heard Osteen yelling or screaming.

Another passenger, Barbara Shedden, who had been called by Brown’s attorney, described the interaction between Brown and Victoria Osteen as “just a power of the wills. It was very authoritative on both parts.”  Shedden said Victoria Osteen was out of line by standing in the aisle while she waited for the spill to be cleaned up, but testified she doubted an attack took place.

A third passenger, James Steele, said he never heard any yelling or sounds of a physical altercation.

I’m hopeful this gets sent to the jury soon.

Pondering Pastor