There has been no shortage of media coverage on this case, so my piece takes a different tack. The title of this article is quite deliberate, in that the victim in this case—two-year-old Caylee—received neither justice nor sufficient attention. Rather, there was an unseemly media feeding frenzy that took full advantage of defense counsel’s lurid
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Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is looking at 23 months in prison for his role in a dogfighting ring. In an era when the value of HUMAN life seems to be near zero, I guess we can take comfort—cold or otherwise—in this protective posture toward animals. Still, don’t you find it a wee bit
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A classic salesman’s joke will set the stage: Before the newly hired salesman is sent out into the field, he is admonished that it is important to make lots of sales calls. Returning to the office on the first day, his manager notes that he has made seven calls, and that is not enough. “I
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All things considered, the last couple of weeks have not been great for pro sports. There is another doping scandal in the Tour de France, an NBA ref who bet on games he was officiating, a cherished home run record being approached by a guy who is mostly hated, and now even more thuggery in
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For those chronological chauvinists who think that the OJ trial set the standard for defense chicanery, prosecutorial malfeasance, lurid details, and an obviously guilty perp who walked, I have two words for you: Candy Mossler. Early in the morning of June 29, 1964, Candy’s multimillionaire husband Jacques (24 years older than her) is found dead
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While I did enjoy the movie Breach, which dealt with the waning months of Bob Hanssen’s career as the most notorious spy in American history, the film focused mostly on how his young assistant—Eric O’Neill—helped to seal the FBI’s case against him. Perhaps, a more compelling pic could have been made by simply chronicling the
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These days, the forensics-tinged true crime shows are all the rage, often out-performing the fictional network crime series. But what happens when the PERPS of a senseless homicide are employees of the local forensics lab? Add to this a love triangle, drugs, feuding families, and a perverse fascination with a perverse flick, and you have
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1999 would see no Thanksgiving celebration for busy Los Angeles rheumatologist Xavier Caro, since on the Monday preceding the traditional holiday, he was to return home to find three of his four sons shot to death. His wife Socorro was found there also, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It would come out in the trial
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John Walker Lindh, aka the American Taliban, aka Johnny Jihad, made his first court appearance on January 24th in Alexandria, VA. Much has already been written about his privileged Marin County upbringing, his mother’s Buddhist beliefs, and his father’s dumping her to pursue a gay relationship. Young John, it seems, was given leave to follow
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In the celebrated case of Massachusetts v. Junta, aka the “Hockey Dads” case, on January 11th, a Middlesex Superior Court jury found Thomas Junta guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the July, 2000 beating death of Michael Costin. Returning this verdict, instead of voluntary manslaughter, the jury of nine women and three men believed that Junta
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