Jury finds actor not guilty of slander

By ANN W. O'NEILL and JOE MOZINGO

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES A jury unanimously found Friday that actor Carroll
O'Connor did not defame his son's "cocaine connection," ending an
emotionpacked civil court trial that blended fame, tragedy and
freedom of speech.

After deliberating about six hours over two days, the six men and
six women underscored, with their verdicts, the grieving father's
right publicly to expose his dead son's drug supplier.

O'Connor sighed with relief and smiled slightly as the jury found
that he had not ruined the reputation of Harry Perzigian by
calling him "a partner in murder."

Jurors later said they agreed with O'Connor and thought his
comments were appropriate. Perzigian has been convicted of
supplying cocaine to 32yearold Hugh O'Connor, an addict who
shot himself to death during a binge in March 1995.

"Personally, I see him as a lawbreaker," juror Ernest Haro, 46,
said of Perzigian. "I tried to put myself in the position of
Carroll O'Connor. I have four sons of my own, and I probably
would have done what he'd done or worse."

O'Connor, who for more than a dozen years portrayed the crusty
bigot Archie Bunker on TV's All in the Family, emotionally
thanked half a dozen jurors, walking in on their news conference.

"You did a great job," he told them. "I knew a jury wasn't going
to say I was wrong. I knew a jury would back me up, and you did.
I'm very, very grateful."

The jury's decision closed the curtain on a twoweek trial that
Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey said "fit the bill" for
courtroom drama. "It has drugs, Hollywood, suicide, the First
Amendment and freedom of speech," Mackey said in dismissing the
jurors.

O'Connor vowed to continue his crusade against people who supply
drugs. "The jury said I could. The jury's the boss," he said.
Later, his eyes brimming during a quiet moment, he said, softly,
"My poor Hugh."

The 72yearold actor said he was surprised the verdicts were
unanimous.

"Some of the things I said, although I always felt they were
just, they were pretty strong," he acknowledged. "I would not
have been surprised if a couple of jurors thought, `Well, you
went over the top on that one.' "

O'Connor's lawyer, Lucy Inman, called the jury's decision "a
tremendous victory for free speech in this country." Only nine
jurors were required to agree for O'Connor to prevail, but the
vote was unanimous on every question they considered.

Perzigian, a 41yearold musician, said the decision showed "L.A.
loves celebrities. You're not going to get a fair shake in L.A.
if you sue a celebrity."

His lawyer, Allan Sigel, said, "It only establishes once more
that Los Angeles loves its celebrities. They mix the character
with the person. And Harry here's a victim of that adulation for
Carroll O'Connor."

Jurors denied that O'Connor's fame played any role in their
deliberations.

Douglas Mirell, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in libel
and freespeech issues, said the case carried a different lesson.

"It's difficult to conceive of a case in which a convicted felon
has a reputation that is capable of being resuscitated by means
of a defamation suit," he said. "Given the relatively high
profile this one had, I would hope it would chill future
frivolous litigation of this type."

What began as a trial to determine whether O'Connor damaged
Perzigian's reputation with harsh words became, by its end, the
soap box from which the wellknown actor waged his antidrug
crusade before a national audience.

The actor said his battle against the evils of drug dealers has
become "a very important outlet" for his grief. And, O'Connor has
helped convince legislators in three states to enact measures
allowing victims to sue drug dealers and seize their assets. In
Florida, the law is known as the Hugh O'Connor Memorial Law.

The trial continued a long ordeal for Hugh O'Connor's widow.

"It felt tortuous," said Angela O'Connor, who is the mother of
the couple's 4yearold son, Sean Carroll O'Connor.

"I had to relive my husband's death over and over," she said. "It
was outrageous and hurtful."

Carroll O'Connor's wife, Nancy, said there were some benefits.
The trial, she said, raised her son's memory as "a gifted,
talented, adorable man who was also addicted." And, she added, "I
think we had a chance to do something to reveal the wickedness of
drugs." Hugh O'Connor's suicide on March 28, 1995, ended a battle
with drug addiction that consumed half his life. On that night,
his father stood before television cameras and condemned
Perzigian for supplying drugs to Hugh.

Perzigian sued O'Connor for slander and infliction of emotional
distress after the actor held his photograph in front of the
cameras and branded him as a drug dealer responsible for the
death of his son.

Police, who had been investigating Perzigian at the elder
O'Connor's insistence, arrested him the day after the suicide. He
was convicted last year of supplying but not selling
cocaine to the younger O'Connor, who starred with his father for
eight years in the police drama In the Heat of the Night.

Perzigian sought $10 million in damages from O'Connor, but by the
trial's end indicated he would settle for a public apology. None
was forthcoming.