Woman's Crazy Jury Duty Scheme Goes Bust

MARCH 22--A Colorado woman who schemed to get out of jury duty and then called into a talk radio program to brag about it is now behind bars after the judge whom she pulled the ruse on turned out to be listening to her on the show.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Denver County Court, Judge Anne Mansfield was listening to a discussion of avoiding jury duty on the “Dave Logan Show” when a woman identifying herself as “Char from Denver” called in and told her story--one that clients of her hair styling business found so amusing that they “would cry we would laugh so hard.” The judge recalled a similar incident earlier in the year of a woman claiming mental illness and getting out of serving on a jury.

“Char from Denver” turned out to be Susan Cole, who said she was scheduled to serve jury duty in district court in June 2011 but felt “emotionally overcome” after falsely believing her roommate was in a motorcycle accident the day before and that she “had too many other activities coming up that she did not want to be involved in jury service.”

A beautician and seller of Mary Kay products, Cole, 57, devised a plan “to appear to be mentally unstable” by wearing “mismatched shoes, reindeer socks…and a shirt that bore the caption ‘Ask me about my best seller.’” She also claimed to have lived on the street and that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from domestic abuse she experienced in the military.

[Audio of Cole’s call to the "Dave Logan Show” on 850 KOA can be heard below.]

In a statement to the investigator, Judge Mansfield’s court reporter describes “a female juror (Juror No. 4361) with hair curlers in her hair of all colors, shapes and sizes...Her makeup looked like something you would wear during a performance in a theater.”

After a brief questioning before the judge, Cole, pictured above, was dismissed from the case without objection from either the prosecution or the defense.

Cole, pictured in the above sheriff's department mug shot, was booked yesterday and charged with perjury and attempting to influence a public servant. She is scheduled to appear in court this morning. (7 pages)