Monday, December 22, 2008

Babies!!

My wife and I just had a baby girl!! It's pretty amazing that she's finally here.

While I was out of the office on paternity leave I missed some court dates. I keep hearing congratulations from clients who had court dates. I've never had such considerate clients before. It's like they forget the reason we know each other for a second and their faces brighten. Or maybe, I forget why we're talking to each other?

I just talked to a client who had a girl, just like us, and only a week after mine. It was a pretty funny conversation actually. We congratulated each other, and had a little laugh. It was a nice change of pace from my normal client conversations.....

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Sensational!!


Here's CNN.com's current front page story:

"A call to the Secret Witness tip line helped police break CNN's first featured cold case: the slaying of college student Brianna Denison, investigators say. James Michael Biela, a 27-year-old construction worker with an alleged thong fetish was arrested last week. Biela is charged with murdering Denison by strangulation."

If the picture of the pretty white female on the front page didn't grab your attention, the fact that she was murdered and the words "thong fetish" should pull you into the story. So much for James Michael Biela's public image. Goodbye "presumed innocent," it was nice to know you ever so briefly. What can I say, but "what the fuck CNN? When did you go Nancy-Fox-News-Grace Crazy?"

I blame Nancy grace for a lot of what's wrong with the Media, and I am probably underestimating her. Can I coin a new phrase? I'll call it "The grace Effect." Any time a SENSATIONAL news story bubbles to the surface of the shit-pool that is crime reporting and gets more attention than it deserves, we'll blame The grace Effect.

Off the top of my head, stories that got graced: Maddie and Caylee are two recent ones. Sadly, I don't have to describe these beyond their first names. They're little white girls, so they get the extra attention. Just thought of another: Elizabeth Smart. Here's a video of Elizabeth reminding us that Nance's crazy is deep and probably shared with her crazy ass audience.



Yes, I know I didn't capitalize Nancy's last name. I'm just hoping that catches on too, and maybe it'll rub off and she'll actually get some grace, or class, or just manners.... yeah, I doubt it too.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Why 'Crime' vs. 'Law'

I wrote this entry back in May of 2008. I left it in the editing stage without publishing it until now. Why? I have no idea. But I was looking at the CNN 'Law' page recently, and that prompted me to go ahead and release these words:

"Crime" sells. Is "Law" boring?

CNN used to have the "Law" section on the front page of their web site. It has been replaced by a link to their "Crime" page. There is still a page dedicated to "Law" but it is not necessarily the sensational coverage that is devoted to the "Crime" stories. "Crime" must sell more virtual papers. Who wants to read about 'lawsuits' when you can look at 'prosecutions?'

What's the difference? Why not cover the crimes under the "Law" section? I suppose people have always been obsessed with crime and criminals in a romantic sort of way. That all depends on media exposure etc. The movie "The Assassination of Jesse James" shows an interesting perspective on this phenomenon. Jesse James went from evil killer to murdered victim in the public eye. His killer was assassinated as well, and nobody mourned him. He had killed a celebrity.

Of course, white blonde women are the media wet dreams in the "Crime" section. It doesn't matter if they are the victim or the alleged criminal, if it's a white female, it's covered. If she's blonde, well that just means NATIONAL coverage. Look at the Barbie Bandits from here in Georgia. It was well reported that they were "Bank Robbers" who stole thousands from a bank. Their minimal sentences were well covered by national news outlets. Their black, male co-defendant's sentence hardly registered on the local news though. He was found to be much more culpable than the blondies, and he got 25 years to serve his involvement in their scheme.

I guess as a criminal defense lawyer, "Crime" is more interesting to me too.