A former model claims that she was found guilty in a murder-for-hire case because the jury turned against her due to her “sexy” outfits.
Tara Lambert, 34, was facing felony charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. She showed up to court in five-inch stilettos and a tight-fitting black and white dress. Despite the case that her defense presented, Lambert believes she was initially found guilty because of her courtroom attire.
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“They were worried about my wardrobe rather than what was really going on,” she told Inside Edition.
Lambert was accused of attempting to hire a contract killer to murder her husband’s ex, Kellie Cooke. She allegedly set up a meeting with the hit man in a parking lot. However, Lambert was unaware that the person she was meeting with was an undercover cop.
The conversation between Lambert and the cop was recorded on tape. She told the undercover officer that she wanted Kellie killed by putting her in a “lumberjack chopper thing.” However, she then told the undercover cop that she was “just kidding.”
The court trial took place outside of Columbus, Ohio. During the proceedings, she explained that she had 24 cosmetic surgeries over the course of her modeling career.
Lambert says that she was unfairly portrayed by the media as “a brainless, heartless, ex-model.”
She says that the “focus” of the trial was placed on her outfit rather than her legal reps’ arguments.
“Sometimes people focus on the wrong details and when they are confronted with those details day after day after day, sometimes what matters gets lost,” her new attorney, Sam Shamansky said.
The jury found Lambert guilty in just 42 minutes. She was initially sentenced to serve seven years in the Marysville Reformatory for Women, a prison that is considered to be so tough that it was featured on the National Geographic program Hard Time.
Lambert was set free after her lawyer argued that the prosecutors failed to state a specific “over act” on her part. It could be many months before Lambert can be retried, and Shamansky says that his client will not be wearing similar outfits in a possible retrial.
“Juries pick up on things and when you are in a court of law you are not at a discotheque,” Shamansky. “You ought to dress accordingly.”
