Casey Anthony: ‘48 Hours Mystery’ raises more ethical questions - Hal

Casey Anthony: ‘48 Hours Mystery’ raises more ethical questions
posted by halboedeker on April, 14 2011 2:16 PM

The Casey Anthony case has been a minefield for the media. The “48 Hours Mystery” this weekend, titled “Only Casey Knows,” is raising new questions about ethics in journalism and the law.

Media observers are baffled that the CBS newsmagazine set up a focus group to weigh Anthony’s guilt. She is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee. The complaint against CBS’ approach: Why not let the jury system work?

It turns out that Richard Gabriel, an Anthony defense consultant, leads the focus group. Does that look right?

“A proxy jury raises questions in the first place,” said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. “If you’re doing it with someone who’s actually working with one side, the questions about what you’re doing multiply.”

CBS News said that Gabriel was not compensated for his efforts, although he will be getting a national showcase when the program airs at 10 p.m. Saturday on WKMG-Channel 6.

CBS News said it arranged the focus group, the defense team was not there, and that Gabriel displays some of the evidence from the prosecution and the defense. Even though defense attorneys Jose Baez and Cheney Mason weren’t at the focus group, wouldn’t Gabriel, as a defense consultant, be considered part of the defense team?

In the same program, former Anthony defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden says Anthony lied about a nanny kidnapping the toddler. “I think everyone knows that that was a lie,” Kenney Baden says. “Her actions have been her own worst enemy.”

Wouldn’t that violate attorney-client privilege?

“The general rule is as attorneys we are supposed to keep confidences and secrets of clients, even after we are no longer their attorney,” said Professor Bob Jarvis of Nova Southeastern University Law Center. “We take these things to our graves. There are limited instances where an attorney can reveal a client’s confidence and secrets.”

Jarvis said he didn’t think Kenney Baden’s statement would fit those limited instances.

Even if Kenney Baden’s comment is just her opnion, it seems unwise and unprofessional for an attorney to make such comments about a former client who has not had her day in court.

“One of the ethics rules is that you be fair to the court and not impede the administration of justice,” Jarvis said. “You can make an argument that by going on TV that you’re poisoning the jury pool and you’re making it harder to seat an unbiased jury. Even if you’re a former attorney, you’re an officer of the court. This is a duty you have to the judge.”

Jarvis also weighed in on attorneys talking to the media.

“Lawyers talk too much. They really do, they just do,” he said. “Some lawyers do it on purpose because they are publicity hounds. I tell lawyers never talk to the media. You can inadvertently slip up. In these high-profile cases, it’s hard to remember what has already come out, what does the public know, what is still a client secret.”

Also in “48 Hours Mystery,” Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi weighs in on the Anthony case.

“I was shocked they would go to someone so far removed from the case,” said Bill Sheaffer, WFTV-Channel 9’s legal analyst.

But there’s an ethical issue here as well, as WKMG-Channel 6’s Tony Pipitone pointed out in a report: Bondi’s office would oppose an appeal if Anthony is convicted.

“The local prosecutors have gone to great lengths not to make any statement,” Sheaffer said. “She should have had the presence of mind to question what her ethical obligations are.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/04/casey-anthony-48-hours-mystery-raises-more-ethical-questions.html