NFL's Corey Fuller high stakes NL poker trial to start this week

[Keres]

If he was charging an uncapped 10% rake of a NL pot in the six figures, some might say he deserves to go to jail.

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http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/talla...l/10725450.htm

Five men and one woman were picked Monday to sit on the jury in the Corey Fuller gambling trial, which starts later this week.

All of the jurors said they had gambled at least once, such as in a casino, but none gambled regularly.

The six jurors - a state worker, a lawyer, a building contractor, a physics professor, a student-teacher and a telecommunications technician - will begin hearing testimony Thursday after opening statements.

The question is whether Assistant State Attorney Matt Smith will prevail where other Leon County prosecutors have faltered in recent years: Getting a conviction against a prominent athlete.

To win, Smith "needs to convince jurors why they should care," said former prosecutor Adam Ruiz.

"That is, why they should care enough to convict a guy who was hosting card games, with willing participants, in the privacy of his home," added Ruiz, now in private practice with the Banks & Morris law firm. "After all, you can watch it on ESPN all the time."

Fuller, a former Florida State University and Rickards High standout and now a defensive back for the Baltimore Ravens, stands charged with running a gambling house out of his Tallahassee residence, a third-degree felony.

Last April, Leon County sheriff's deputies and state agents raided Fuller's house on Victoria Street, saying he'd been hosting high-stakes card games for a 10-percent cut of the pot, some in the six figures.

He's also charged with felony firearm and misdemeanor gambling charges. Informants and an undercover investigator said Fuller carried a handgun during the games. And some of the gamblers said Fuller occasionally would play some hands.

Fuller, 33, has denied the charges. He did not speak during Monday's jury selection.

Smith and Timothy Jansen, Fuller's attorney, spent much of the day querying a panel of prospective jurors, trying to tease out any biases. Questions included what they knew about the case from news media, what they thought about professional athletes and whether they opposed gambling.

[Phat Mack]

If he was charging an uncapped 10% rake of a NL pot in the six figures, some might say he deserves to go to jail.

I've been at poker games that were raided. If the story ever made the newspapers, the cops were always quoted as saying some pretty weird stuff: Poker games are known to be centers for illegal firearms and drug sales; Tens of thousands of dollars on the table (this at a 1-2 game), to give the gist. Being overly dramatic helps them to justify the expenditure of time and money. As a conciliatory gesture, I will admit that when the cops send someone to sit in a game, they usually have no idea of what is going on or what they are doing.