Mark Hertzberg/Associated Press
- A jury consultant who helped O.J. Simpson's defense team in his 1995 murder trial is working for Kyle Rittenhouse's defense.
- Jo-Ellan Dimitrius helped Simpson's team find the "perfect juror," according to Inside Edition.
- Dimitrius was seen comforting Rittenhouse's mother on Wednesday when the teen broke down in tears on the witness stand.
Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, a jury consultant who helped O.J. Simpson's defense team pick the "perfect juror" for his 1995 murder trial, has been working for Kyle Rittenhouse's defense team.
Rittenhouse is on trial for shooting and killing Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, as well as injuring Gaige Grosskreutz, during a night of civil unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in summer 2020.
The jury for Rittenhouse's trial is overwhelmingly white, and consists of 11 women and nine men with one person of color in the group, according to local reports. The number of jurors is expected to be decreased to 12 before final deliberations next week.
Rittenhouse's defense team did not return Insider's request for comment, but Dimitrius' office confirmed Thursday in an email that the consultant has been retained to "assist the Rittenhouse defense team."
On Wednesday, Dimitrius could be seen comforting Rittenhouse's mother when the teenager broke down in tears on the witness stand.
-Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) November 10, 2021
Dimitrius works as a trial consultant and has been retained by many high-profile clients including Apple, CBS, and the US Department of Justice, according to the Dimitrius & Associates LLC website. She has also touted her work as a jury selection consultant for criminal defense teams for Richard Ramirez, a serial rapist and murderer known as "the Night Stalker;" former NBA player Jayson Williams; and O.J. Simpson.
Dimitrius told Inside Edition in 2016 that she helped Simpson's defense team select the "perfect juror" during his 1995 murder trial. Dimitrius had determined through research surveys that the jurors who would be most sympathetic to Simpson were "female African Americans with a high school education or less."
She also observed each jury member's reaction to every witness testimony in Simpson's trial, and advised his defense team on their line of questioning for each witness, according to Inside Edition.
Dimitrius told the outle that Marcia Clark, a prosecutor on the Simpson case, also hired a jury consultant who gave her "the same analysis." But Clark chose to ignore the advice, resulting in the "perfect jury" that would go on to acquit Simpson: 8 Black women, 1 Black man, 1 Hispanic man, and 2 white women.
When Inside Edition asked Dimitrius if she was certain that Simpson would be acquitted after seeing the makeup of the jury, she answered that "there was a big high five that went on" later that day at Simpson's attorney's office.