Man on weekly program convicted of soliciting sex

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A man featured on a weekly cable television program that targets people arrested for prostitution-related crimes has been found guilty of soliciting sex. <br><br>The attorney for

Wednesday, April 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A man featured on a weekly cable television program that targets people arrested for prostitution-related crimes has been found guilty of soliciting sex.

The attorney for Delwyn Reed Duree, however, says he plans to file a civil rights lawsuit for his client by the end of April.

Duree, 37, was convicted Tuesday and sentenced to one day in the Oklahoma County jail. He was charged in Oklahoma City municipal court with soliciting oral sex from an undercover officer Feb. 25, 1999.

Duree was the first sex-crimes defendant featured on "John TV" to go to trial for the charges that led to his television debut. The program, which airs on Cox Cable Public Access Channel 20 twice each Wednesday, started less than a week after Duree's arrest.

On the program, photographs and names of persons accused of lewd acts or prostitution-related acts are shown with a disclaimer that says they are presumed innocent until found guilty. Each person's face is broadcast for 20 seconds and rotated through a 15-minute broadcast.

Attorney Scott Adams said the jury's decision supports his position that Duree was unfairly portrayed as being guilty when the city broadcast his information.

"John TV convicts people in the area of public opinion," Adams said. "The average person believes that if your name is splashed out there, then you must have done something wrong."

But Steve Huddleston, an assistant municipal prosecutor, said Duree's trial was not about John TV.

"It was about what happened on a specific day and whether or not the defendant did what he was accused of," he said.

Prosecutors said potential jurors were asked whether they had ever seen the program and whether it would sway their decisions. The jurors selected said they had not seen John TV and that it would not make any difference if they had, prosecutors said.

Adams said the city should drop John TV unless it is expanded to include people charged with all crimes, or to only run the information after people are found guilty.