By William C. Lhotka
Post-Dispatch
March 30, 2005
A number of St. Louis Rams were spectators this morning in the trial of their colleague, Leonard Little, who is accused of drunk driving and speeding in Ladue last year.
Attending a morning of jury selection in St. Louis County Circuit Court were: quarterback Marc Bulger, running back Marshall Faulk, and center Andy McCollum. Little, 30, of St. Charles, is a Pro-Bowl defensive end.
One of the prospective jurors recognized the players who were in the back row on the right side of the courtroom, with 36 jurors on the left side and 12 in the jury box,. The number had been winnowed down from an original pool of 80 after each potential juror was questioned individually about publicity.
Prosecutor Mark Bishop, in his general questioning, had asked all 48 if they recognized anyone in the courtroom. That prompted the one juror to identify Bulger, McCollum and Faulk, and Bishop to then ask the panel if they would be influenced during the trial by the presence of professional football players. No one said their presence would influence jury decisions.
Little is represented by defense attorneys Scott Rosenblum and John Rogers. They questioned the 48 when Bishop finished. The accusation that Little was speeding and drunk April 24 on Highway 40 in Ladue last year ``is just a piece of paper in a court file,'' Bishop said. ``The defendant has pleaded not guilty. That, too, is just a piece of paper in the court file.''
Jurors agreed with Bishop that they would be guided only by the facts from the witness stand the instructions of Judge Emmett M. O'Brien.
Faulk is no stranger to the Clayton courthouse. In a courtroom two doors down from O'Brien in 2003, a jury concluded that Faulk had been falsely accused of domestic violence by a former girlfriend who wanted $3 million in damages and ended up paying Faulk $125. Rosenblum was Faulk's lawyer in that case. He also represented Little in 1999 when Little pleaded guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Susan Gutweiler, 47, of Oakville, in a crash downtown.
