A Daytime Diva in the Jury Box

By Rebecca Winters

While toting a $2,800 Louis Vuitton handbag through security, OPRAH WINFREY proved last week that she is still just one of us folks. The chat-show queen reported for jury duty in Chicago, telling reporters she thought she was "too opinionated" to make an attractive juror. Attorneys disagreed and selected Oprah for a murder trial. Serving for $17.20 a day, the media mogul and her fellow jurors voted to convict after deliberating for just over two hours. Now Oprah plans to tape an episode of her show about the experience, which she called a "huge reality check." Judges may want to start preparing now for a healthy turnout of future jury pools. The woman who persuaded mainstream America to embrace both Tolstoy and Dr. Phil could make the most underloved of civic duties hot.