The Region - News from May 12, 1987

Attorneys for the five “Twilight Zone� involuntary manslaughter defendants concluded their final arguments in the long-running trial with a plea to jurors that they send a message to the Hollywood film community. “(Tell them) people from Hollywood are going to be treated the same, no better or worse, than anyone else,� declared attorney Harland Braun, who represents associate producer George Folsey Jr. According to Braun, Folsey, director John Landis and three associates are charged with criminal negligence in the 1982 film set deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two child actors “not because of what they did, but because of who they are . . . movie people.� The jury, which began hearing testimony last September, will begin deliberations after Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino concludes her rebuttal to the defense arguments.