God gets Victoria off the hook

TELEVANGELIST’S wife, Victoria Osteen has been cleared by a Houston, Texas, jury of assaulting Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown.

Sharon Brown, left, leaves court

Said Joel Osteen at the conclusion of the case:

It’s a great vindication and shows us the faithfulness of God.

No Joel, it simply shows that the jury didn’t buy Brown’s story.

According to Yahoo News, they rejected Brown’s claims that Victoria Osteen threw her against a toilet door and elbowed her in the left breast while attempting to rush the cockpit because she was angry that a stain on her seat was not quickly cleaned up.

Joel Osteen, whose church draws about 42,000 a week for services and whose TV show and books are popular around the world, said he and his family hold no ill will toward Brown and they have prayed for her.

Brown quickly left the courtroom without talking to reporters, but in a brief statement her attorney Reginald McKamie read, she said.

We gave the truth to the jury. We are happy we had an opportunity to try our case.

Joel and Victoria Osteen – elated at the jury's verdict

In his closing argument, McKamie told jurors that because of Victoria Osteen’s status as a religious leader, she felt she had “favour from God.” That led her to believe she was above reproach for humiliating and assaulting his client, he said.

Brown had been seeking at least $405,000 for actual damages — physical and mental pain as a result of an attack she alleged took place before the start of a December 2005 flight from Houston to Vail, Colorado.

The jury’s foreman, Gilles Labbe, said he and other jurors believed what happened on the plane was not an attack but a disagreement between a passenger and one or more flight attendants.

Besides money for actual damages, Brown had requested punitive damages amounting to 10 percent of Victoria Osteen’s net worth as part of her lawsuit.