Jury selection for the Michael Jackson trial was delayed a week in deference to the death of lead defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr.'s sister.
Meanwhile, the media, chafing at the restrictions and gag orders laid down by Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville, has gone to court to have them rescinded. Today, Attorney Theodore Boutrous, who represents AP, ABC, CNN, CBS, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, NBC, The New York Times, USA Today and The Washington Post, will ask a three-judge panel of California's 2nd District Court of Appeal to lift the gag order on attorneys in the case, to end the practice of holding hearings in secret, and for the release of several documents that have not been publicly released, or have been released only in heavily redacted form, including the indictment, several motions and search warrants.
The judge has said the unprecedented secrecy is necessary to protect the integrity of a case that otherwise threatens to turn into yet another "reality show" as opposed to an exercise in justice. And he certainly has a point.
"Americans have always viewed the courtroom as public theater. The danger is that unrestricted pretrial publicity can literally tip the balance," Dirk Gibson, a communications and journalism professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, told the Christian Science Monitor.
"While I'm certainly not going to tell you that in the past decade there haven't been some excesses of coverage ... I think most of the coverage and most of the behavior has been appropriate. Covering a trial from inside and outside has far more benefits to society and to our judicial system than any possible disadvantages," Roberta Brackman, a Minneapolis lawyer formerly with the NBC News legal team, said in the same article.
However, Robert Morvillo, the lawyer who defended Martha Stewart in her obstruction of justice case, thinks jury selection — right where are now in the Jackson case — is where the media madness is most keenly felt. "As much as [jurors] want to be fair and follow the judges' instructions, it becomes virtually impossible to ... make their minds a blank."
And what will the jury think of Jackson, once it is selected? The NY Times examined the importance of personal appearance in court:
- ON Day 1 he looked angelic in his white three-piece suit with a rope of jeweled baubles at the waist and a gold armband. On Day 2 he chose a black suit and a red shirt accented with a choker pendant, a brocade vest and a royal crest.
...."Particularly in a case of this type," said William B. Moffitt, a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, "what you don't want the jury thinking is, 'This guy is weird, and he's so weird he might have done this.' Would style play a role in that perception? Sure it can."
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Nice post, Eric - some brilliant cartoons about the MJ trial over at Slate.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks A, hilarity! great link
3 - Al Barger
Besides everything else, I'm calling bullshit on the whole umbrella schtick. I'm not believing that there's any health need for this nonsense. What, he's going to keel over if he's exposed to the sun for one minute going from the limo to the courthouse door? Is he a friggin' vampire or what?
4 - Eric Olsen
hmm, vampire, that would explain ...
5 - Al Barger
Of course, there's always MY MODEST PROPOSAL for resolving the Jackson problem.
6 - Eric Olsen
"would you buy a used insane asylum from this man?"
7 - Al Barger
I'm telling ya, it's a great investment.
8 - Eric Olsen
I wouldn't go near it without sending in a herd of exorcists and ghost busters first
9 - DrPat
Thanks for the cartoon links! They missed the one that appeared in our Sunday paper, by Mike Peders from the Dayton Daily News.
It showed the lawyer telling Jacko, "They found a jury of your peers." The jury box holds Ronald McDonald, a nose-less alien, Elmer Fudd, Beavis, Daffy Duck, Bozo the Clown, Bart Simpson - and SpongeBob.
10 - Eric Olsen
no Bubbles?
11 - DrPat
Nope, just the characters I listed. Frankly, I think SpongeBob only made it into the jury thanks to Dr. Dobson...
12 - mrbenning
If anybody has a link to that comic, I'd love to see it.
13 - Ronan
Michael Jackson dresses like a Superstar, which he is. How do pedophile's dress? Well most pedophile's are family members, so they dress pretty casual.
After that they are school teachers, sport coaches etc.
They DO NOT stand out and generally DO NOT try to draw attention to themselves.
Therefore it is a ridiculous statement that Michael dresses like a pedophile, HE DRESSES THE OPPOSITE.
14 - Sandra Smallson
Ronan, you are fighting a lost battle with this lot. They have their standard of what they consider "normal" and do not give any room for anything else. Anything outside this standard of theirs is criminal. You read it right. Not just strange. Criminal. I would consider MJ strange, weird and eccentric. I don't consider him a pedophile. Yet, the gang here, even know how pedophiles are supposed to dress. It's really unbelievable. If they had their way, they would have MJ's name in the Oxford Dictionary as a synonym for Pedophile, never mind that the case is yet to start.
Just tell me what Mj's dress sense has got to do with anything? Oh, I'm sorry, I need to get a sense of humor right? It's a joke? Everyone takes potshots at MJ? Yet, there is a post somewhere around here criticizing the Press for looking at the case as "entertainment". It's not a laughing matter, the original poster writes. It's serious. Eric supports by saying....we must realise what is at stake here..BUT..when it comes to poking fun at MJ's character and dress sense and how that makes him more likely to be a pedophile, it's all fun and games and his "defenders" are told to get a sense of humor. Isn't life just grand?!
15 - Ronan
Sandra, you are right. THe only thing Michael is guilty of is being a little bit different.
Thanks for your input.