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Man convicted of stalking Uma Thurman for 3 years

07.05.2008 20:01 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

Actress Uma Thurman, shown at a New York screening in April, testified against a man who stalked her on film sets and at her home over the last three years. (Peter Kramer/Associated Press)

A Manhattan jury has convicted former mental patient Jack Jordan of stalking and harassing actress Uma Thurman.

The Supreme Court jury deliberated briefly Tuesday morning before returning with a conviction.

During the week-long trial, Thurman had testified that she was "terrified" of Jordan.

Jordan faces up to a year in jail after stalking her over a three-year period.

Thurman, star of Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction, told the court Jordan called her repeatedly, flooded her with e-mails, rang her doorbell at all hours and threatened to kill himself unless she would meet him.

He turned up on film sets, including the set of My Super Ex-Girlfriend in Manhattan, Thurman said.

In that incident, he delivered a card with a drawing of an open grave, a headstone and a man standing on the edge of a razor blade. The card bore words such as "chocolate, mouth, soft, kissing" and declared, "My hands should be on your body at all times."

Relatives and film colleagues had to continually keep the man at bay, Thurman testified.

In closing arguments on Monday, Jordan's lawyer admitted his client was "obsessed" but said he had no criminal intent.

"He's trying to get to the woman he loves — although it's an obsession — in the hope that she will love him back," said defence lawyer George Vomvolakis.

"Jack Jordan is not charged with obsession. Obsession is not a crime."

He argued the case would not have gone to court if it had not involved a celebrity.

Prosecutors said Jordan began stalking Thurman in 2005 and was involuntarily committed to a mental institution after one incident involving the actress.

When he was released, he started showing up at the front doorstep of her Greenwich Village town house and phoning Thurman's parents, threatening to kill himself out of love for her.

This amounts to harassment, the prosecutor said.

"This is not 'roses are red, violets are blue.' This is not an innocuous little love note," he said.

Jordan, who lives with his parents in Gaithersburg, Md., is an out-of-work lifeguard who was living in his car at the time of his arrest last year.

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