Former VH1 "I Love New York 2" contestant convicted of murder

[alp227]

Ex-reality show contestant convicted of murder

Jaxon Van Derbeken
San Francisco Chronicle
February 9, 2010

(02-09) 18:35 PST SAN FRANCISCO --

A San Francisco jury convicted a 29-year-old one-time reality TV contestant of first-degree murder Tuesday for gunning down a man in 2007 at the Sunnydale housing projects. In another case, three men were acquitted in slayings in the same area.

Jamal Trulove put his head down and wept after the jury returned the verdict of murder and of being a felon with a firearm in the July 23, 2007, slaying of Seu Kuka, 28, in the city's Visitacion Valley neighborhood.

Trulove's conviction was based on the testimony of an eyewitness, whom The Chronicle is not naming at the request of prosecutors. She said she was "100 percent" sure Trulove was the gunman. Three months after the murder, she was surprised to see Trulove on the VH-1 series "I Love New York 2" as a potential suitor of reality TV veteran Tiffany "New York" Pollard.

The witness said about 25 people saw what happened, but she alone testified. She is now in a witness protection program.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/09/BATE1BV3OI.DTL