/UCWE/ Reality shows open up many doors of opportunity for those that choose to take advantage of it but it also comes with the price of being recognized, and that is a lesson that Jamal Trulove learned. Just recently a San Francisco jury convicted the one-time reality TV show contestant of first-degree murder for gunning down a man in 2007 at the Sunnydale housing projects.
Jamal Trulove 29, who was a contestant on the VH1 series "I Love New York 2" as a potential suitor of reality TV veteran Tiffany "New York" Pollard, dropped his head and tears flowed down his face as the the jury returned a guilty verdict in the murder of Seu Kuka, 28.
The nail in the coffin for Trulove was the testimony of an eyewitness that stated that she was "100 percent" sure Trulove was the gunman due to his appearance on the reality show that she watched on VH1.
There were about 25 people that saw what happened but this one witness is the one that was an avid VH1 viewer, and she was the only one that testified. Her name has been withheld and she is currently in a witness protection program.
Prosecutor Linda Allen said that "she was terrified to do what she did, but she did it anyway."
District Attorney Kamala Harris credited the "brave eyewitness who stepped forward from the crowd" for the conviction.
This took the jury all of four days to come back with the verdict of guilty thus convicting Trulove. His sentenced can be up anywhere from 50 years to life in state prison.
He will be sentenced March 19, 2010.
