'Rockefeller' Trial Sparks Identity Crisis

Defendant's name(s) at issue as jury readies for kidnapping case
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 27, 2009 10:49 AM CDT
'Rockefeller' Trial Sparks Identity Crisis
Attorneys on either side of the trial of Clark Rockefeller, aka Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, confer in a pre-trial hearing in superior court Monday, May 11, 2009, in Boston.   (AP Photo/George Rizer, Pool)

A Boston court saw the selection yesterday of 11 of the 16 jurors needed to begin the trial of Clark Rockefeller. Or of Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter. Or of "the defendant," as the judge calls him. The mystery man is on trial for kidnapping his daughter, and because he's also charged with giving police a false name, the issue is a serious one, reports the Boston Herald.

The prosecution argues that Gerhartsreiter is the name under which the German entered America and married his first wife. Lawyers for the accused—who has gone by Rockefeller since 1983—contend that would prejudice the jury on the charge of using an alias.
(More Clark Rockefeller stories.)

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