Jurors in "Tigger Trial" Will Try on Costume

cherrynegra

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Posted on Tue, Aug. 03, 2004

Antics in Disney trial would be goofy if charges weren't serious

MIKE SCHNEIDER

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. - The antics in the trial of a Walt Disney World worker accused of groping a 13-year-old girl's breast while posing for photos dressed as Tigger would be downright goofy if the charges weren't so serious.

Jurors will get the chance to try on a Tigger costume in the jury room. Walt Disney World officials suggested Tigger's costume be altered before being introduced as evidence. The defense attorney moonlights as Goofy and Tigger at the theme park resort.

"This whole trial has a bunch of things unique about it," Matt Benefiel, court administrator for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Orlando, said Tuesday on the second day of trial, which is expected to last through Wednesday.

Michael Chartrand, 36, is accused of misdemeanor battery and lewd and lascivious molestation, a felony. If convicted he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. He rejected a plea offer on Monday that would have kept him out of prison.

He was suspended without pay from his job and his fiance left him after he was arrested in April.

During deliberations, jurors will get the chance to try on the Tigger costume. Defense attorney Jeffrey Kaufman Jr. said he wanted the jurors to feel what it's like inside the hot, stuffy costume so they know how difficult it is to wear.

"Johnny Cochran with the glove thing might be outdone," said Kaufman, referring to the O.J. Simpson trial.

Benefiel said he can't remember another case where jurors were allowed to try on an outfit.

But the use of the Tigger costume during the trial worried Disney officials enough that a company attorney suggested to the defense attorney that the costume be dyed black and white and its ears be removed, Kaufman said last week.

The Tigger costume, covered in a black garment bag and stuffed in a cardboard box, was entered into evidence as state's exhibit No. 7 on Tuesday.

"Our hope is that the use of our costume will be handled with appropriate sensitivity so as to preserve the dreams and magic for our younger guests as much as possible," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said.

Prosecutor William Jay told jurors during opening arguments that such magic was stolen from the victim when she posed with Tigger and her mother for photos last February.

"He abused his job as a costumed character to steal a little girl's innocence," Jay said.

Much of the trial's contention hinges on whether photos show Tigger's hands on the of the girl and her mother, who later told her daughter she too was groped.

Kaufman said he plans to introduce into evidence Walt Disney World promotional literature that have photos showing what looks like costumed characters' hands on visitors' .

"You're going to get a lot of interpretations," Kaufman told jurors.

The defense attorney also planned to call an expert witness who will bring new meaning to the word character witness: a Walt Disney World employee who plays the costumed characters at the parks. The expert was expected to explain the protocol for taking pictures with guests.

Kaufman, who moonlights at the theme park resort working sometimes as Goofy and Tigger, took the job for free.

"Disney characters don't make any money. They're broke," Kaufman said. "There are hundreds of issues that come up, that, I hate to say, if you haven't worn the costume and you haven't worked there, you don't understand."
 

WDWFREAK53

Well-Known Member
General Grizz said:
*sigh* BRB. . . time to get anti-Grizz estrogen pills. . .

*sigh*

This is all Disney's fault. They should have fired mkt. :D

are you saying that Disney should've fired MKT so that Tigger wouldn't have fondled him? :lookaroun
 

mkt

When a paradise is lost go straight to Disney™
Premium Member
General Grizz said:
This is all Disney's fault. They should have fired mkt. :D

Grizz. Don't sleep too soundly tonight. I'm gonna be in Waterford.
 

xfkirsten

New Member
What if they're not in the right height range for Tigger? :lookaroun :lol:

All joking aside, I think this is a great way to get a character's point of view across on the matter.

-Kirsten
 

mkt

When a paradise is lost go straight to Disney™
Premium Member
Disney isn't touching this with a 10 foot pole
 

Laura

22
Premium Member
What ARE those costumes like anyway? Do they have air conditioning in them? If not, I don't know how the CM's can last 10 minutes in the heat.
 

General Grizz

New Member
hcwalker16 said:
Yikes! Where did you get those photos. I hope it's somewhere that kids can't access easily. I also really hope that the press doesn't use them.
Too late. . . local WESH News of Central Florida had the photos on - see Timekeeper's thread on News and Rumors - and it's on the front page of the Orlando Sentinel online main page, and probably will be on the front page of tomorrow's paper. . .

:mad:
 

Captain Hank

Well-Known Member
General Grizz said:
Too late. . . local WESH News of Central Florida had the photos on - see Timekeeper's thread on News and Rumors - and it's on the front page of the Orlando Sentinel online main page, and probably will be on the front page of tomorrow's paper. . .

:mad:

:fork: :fork: :fork: :fork: :fork: :fork: :fork:
So much for magic.
 

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