Media zap right to fair trial: To wit, Casey Anthony et al. Lenamon speaks out

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpoplenamon08040809apr08,0,7234456.story



By Terence Lenamon |Special to the Sentinel April 8, 2009
As one who represented Casey Anthony
during negotiations on whether Florida would seek the death penalty, I
think it's time that we evaluate the American media coverage of this
hitherto unknown twentysomething single mother. Anthony is accused of
killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie.

Why look at media coverage? Because she has the same rights under the
U.S. Constitution as you and I do. And those rights are being
disrespected and trampled in what may well be a permanent loss of not
only her right to a fair trial, but yours and mine as well.

This case has become a witch hunt — a trial by media — and it has
nothing to do with guilt or innocence. Casey Anthony is a moneymaker.
Her case has become the subject of daily — sometimes hourly — national
media coverage. The most minute details of the Anthony case can be
discovered every night on cable TV and anytime, day or night, on any
one of a growing number of Web sites. The fact that advertising dollars
accompany most of this coverage cannot be ignored.

Our rights are being compromised because the same people who read the
tabloids and follow the coverage for the latest tidbits on the
investigation and prosecution of Casey Anthony will make up a part of
the jury pool for her trial. And the more exposure on the Web and in
the media, the less likely that jurors unacquainted with the case will
be found.
Add to this the media suggestion, even invitation, to form judgments of
the defendant's guilt or innocence, and the blatant disrespect of our
constitutional right to a fair trial — and the presumption of innocence
we should all hold dear — goes out the window.

When I voice this concern, people like Nancy Grace point to O.J. Simpson.
He got coverage like no other criminal defendant in this country, much
of it presuming his guilt, and he was found innocent. The trial by
media didn't hurt him, they say.

However, no one mentions Richard Jewell. No one talks about Sam Sheppard or John and Patsy Ramsey. And they should.

Richard Jewell was an Atlanta security guard working during the 1996 Summer Olympics
when he discovered a pipe bomb, cleared the area and called police.
Initially hailed as a hero, Jewell was quickly vilified as a terrorist.
He was ultimately exonerated and successfully sued several media
companies. Eleven years later, Jewell died of heart disease at 44.

Sam Sheppard was a physician convicted in 1954 of the second-degree
murder of his pregnant wife; his story became the basis of the
television series The Fugitive.
The media bombarded the case from the moment the murder was discovered.
Sheppard spent 10 years behind bars before his conviction was
overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, based upon his trial by media and
the denial of his due process.

John and Patsy Ramsey were exonerated just last summer by Colorado
authorities after their trial by media. In 1996, their daughter,
JonBenét, 6, was found beaten and strangled in the family's basement in
Boulder. The Ramseys blamed an intruder for her death; the media
targeted the parents. No one was ever charged in the case, and Patsy
Ramsey died of ovarian cancer in 2006 at age 49.

Even before Google,
cable news or blogs, the possible juror prejudice resulting from
overzealous media was serious enough that the Supreme Court heard the
Florida case. In Murphy v. Florida, Thurgood Marshall
wrote: "If the 'general atmosphere in the community or courtroom is
sufficiently inflammatory,' the community can be so influenced against
the defendant 'as to impeach the indifference of jurors who displayed
no animus of their own.'"

This is exactly what we must consider in high-profile cases: Has the
community been so influenced by media coverage that there can be no
possibility of separating the merely informed juror from the juror who
has already decided guilt or innocence from public "facts"?

This is not an issue of adjudicating guilt or innocence. Our
constitutional right to due process — our right to a fair trial — is
being weakened by the commercial incentives of media witch hunts
exemplified by the Casey Anthony case. We need to recognize and stop
this attack upon us all.
Terence "Terry" Lenamon is a Florida criminal defense attorney with an office in Miami.