Jurors Begin Deliberating In Top Chef Extortion Trial
BOSTON (CBS) -- Five different attorneys made closing arguments Thursday in the trial of four Teamsters accused of harassing and intimidating the cast and crew of Top Chef because the production didn't hire union workers.
The men are accused of making violent, racist, homophobic, and misogynistic threats to the production members and chest bumping and physically blocking them while the TV show filmed at Steel & Rye in Milton in 2014.
Following closing arguments, jurors received the case and deliberated for about two hours without reaching a verdict Thursday.
Video evidence of the Teamsters' actions was shown in court during the trial.
Defense: "There's no evidence before you of any violent actions in that video." #TopChef #Teamsters #ClosingArguments #wbz
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) August 10, 2017
Defense attorneys reminded jurors that the men weren't on trial for vandalism or for being rude, though--they stand accused of extortion, and they claim their clients were simply picketing and not extorting the production.
Defense:"They're not on trial for assault. They're not on trial for vandalism...not on trial for threats." #TopChef vs. #Teamsters #wbz
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) August 10, 2017
Prosecutors said Teamsters promised to disrupt filming if the production company didn't hire union workers, and pressured them to create jobs for the Teamsters that the company had no need for.
"This, members of the jury, was not a picket, no matter how many times defense attorneys use that word," said one prosecutor.
The defense claimed Thursday that the show at one point offered the union a "bribe" to leave the cast and crew alone.
Defense closing argument: #TopChef "offered to pay them off(#Teamsters)...a payoff, a bribe...just wanted them to go away." #wbz
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) August 10, 2017
The defense said the men were looking for jobs for their fellow union workers, not for themselves.
Defense: #Teamsters could have done the same job on-union drivers did for #TopChef. Therefore, this was not "extortion" of jobs. #wbz
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) August 10, 2017
"What's really going on is reality television doesn't want to be unionized," said one defense attorney.
During closings, one prosecutor said the Teamsters were "threatening to kill people ... telling the host of the show they're gonna bash her pretty little face in."
Padma Lakshmi, the host of the show, testified on Monday that, as she approached the show's set in a van, one of the Teamsters--later identified as John Fidler--leaned into the window and made that threat.
"Defendants...were trying to scare the production crew." Prosec plays video w/#Teamsters hurling obscenities at #TopChef crew members. #wbz
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) August 10, 2017
"I felt he was bullying me," Lakshmi said on the stand. "I felt he was saying, 'I might hit you.' … I could feel my heartbeat."
The defense, however, claimed in their closing that she exaggerated that account because she simply felt "inconvenienced" by the Teamsters.
Defense: #TopChef star Padma Lakshmi didn't want to have to use the back door "like the common people...she was inconvenienced." #wbz
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) August 10, 2017
The defense rested Tuesday without calling any witnesses to the stand.
Jurors began deliberating at about 2:30 p.m. on Thursday and left for the day several hours later.
Deliberations will resume Friday morning.