Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Trial Juror Explains Verdict: ‘This Is Based on the Evidence and the Law’

31 March 2023

After eight days of proceedings in a Utah court, Gwyneth Paltrow has been found not liable for injuries that retired optometrist Dr. Terry Sanderson suffered in a 2016 ski crash. Now, one of the jurors has opted to publicly explain how the day’s second biggest news story was decided.

In a new interview with ABC News, Samantha Imrie — a nurse who served as Juror #11 in the trial — explained that the jury was able to reach its decision in a matter of hours after testimony concluded. Imrie said that she found Paltrow’s testimony compelling and never felt like the mostly retired actress was behind dishonest.

“There was in the back of my mind that this woman is an actress… I did take that into account,” Imrie said. “But I didn’t feel that she had a reason to lie under oath. She’s always in the spotlight so she always has to be honest.”

The juror added that she was particularly persuaded by the testimony of Dr. Irving Scher, Paltrow’s expert witness who broke down the crash from a scientific perspective.

“He’s a snow sports expert in many different ways,” she said. “I think the fact that Dr. Scher could speak to the settings and he specifically studied snow science, that he had a stronger opinion.”

Imrie explained that the jury felt that Sanderson’s claims that the skiing injury had damaged his quality of life were weakened by the travel that he has enjoyed in the months since the accident. What the jury saw as his lavish lifestyle made it seem less plausible that Paltrow had ruined his life.

“I think I wrote down something like, ‘I need to make more money so I can travel this way,’” she said. “I wouldn’t have thought he was capable of those things based on the picture that he was painting.”

Ultimately, Imrie emphasized that the jury’s decision about Paltrow was not influenced by her celebrity status.

“I think it’s important that the public doesn’t just think this was a win because Gwyneth is a celebrity,” she said. “This is based on the evidence and this is based on the law. I do work in medicine and you have to look at everyone the same. That should apply in the courtroom as well.”

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