12/19/2007

in

Sopranos creator David Chase took the stand Tuesday to dispute charges that he stole Sopranos' concept from ex-friend.

Stephanie Simbari

David Chase was almost in tears yesterday when aspiring writer Robert Baer legally accused him of creative fraud. Chase was not happy about the allegations and said, "To have someone claim I had stolen ideas ... it makes me sick, absolutely sick," according to the *Daily News*. Baer, an ex-judge alleged that Chase stole his ideas during a three day tour they took of New Jersey together. He even went as far as to cross examine Chase himself. The *Daily News* reports that Chase claimed the ideas for the Sopranos spawned from his own childhood interest in mobsters and was creatively inspired by 1960s mobster show, *The Untouchables*. Chase was on the stand for two hours, and in short, portrayed Baer as a pathetic prosecutor with pipe dreams of making it in showbiz. The jury will hear closing arguments today and come to a verdict.