Josh Marshall says he should have figured it out sooner-- Larry King has been feeding cases to Mark Geragos . [link via Instapundit] Josh also reprints the Larry King transcript from the show a few nights ago where Nancy Grace got her come-uppance from Scott Peterson's father. I saw that show--and agree, she had it coming. But she always has it coming. The real question is why does Larry King put her on so much--both as a guest and as a substitute host? The answer is very clear. Ratings. The public loves her "try 'em and fry 'em" mentality, and when she's on the air, ratings go up. I hope that in a future column Josh will address what the more significant and troubling import of the media's massive coverage of the Peterson case: Guilt sells.

The public will tune in to watch a person who under our legal system is presumed innocent-- that is, a person accused but not yet tried for a heinous murder-- get crucified on tv night after night, for weeks and months. I have been in three states since the Peterson case exploded in the media--Colorado, Texas and New York --in all three, it was the topic du jour in public places like airports, hotel bars, taxicabs, beauty salons and department stores. Everyone knew Scott Peterson--and had an opinion about his guilt. Everyone knew that he dyed his hair, had an affair with a woman named Amber and was arrested with $10k in cash in San Diego while DNA tests were being on the remains of his wife and unborn child --they even knew his alibi of going fishing.

Ask yourselves, what happens when someone is found innocent? How long does the case stay in the news? Can you name even one of the 127 persons released from prison or death row after DNA proved their innocence? Of course not. There is a short AP story on the case, usually never to be mentioned again.

Guilt sells. Innocence doesn't. This is what is so sad about the massive, non-stop Peterson coverage. The media disappears when it comes to covering the innocent - because it doesn't get ratings. People aren't interested in watching cases about innocence. We might as well be living in the days of gladiators and the Roman Coliseum. It's a game, a sport to the American public.

The issue shouldn't be whether Mark Geragos gets another case or whether Nancy Grace is a disgrace to the legal profession. The real issue is why does the American viewing public tune in night after night to see a person presumed to be innocent get ravaged, tried and convicted on sheer speculation by former prosecutors, cops, forensic experts and criminologists who have no first-hand knowledge of the facts or evidence in the case?

Gary Condit, John and Patsy Ramsey--none of them were charged, let alone convicted, of the crime for which they were under investigation or "the umbrella of suspicion." Yet former prosecutors went on TV nightly proclaiming their guilt based on rank speculation.

The media is positively giddy about the Peterson case. And like it or not, the coverage is going to continue. I went to the studios five times this week for Fox and MSNBC (two of the five times I was bumped while in the chair when Bush chose the exact moment of my segments to make long winded speeches.) I turned down three more requests due to schedule conflicts. I fly back to Denver at 8 am Sunday morning, will be back on Fox at 4:35 pm EST and then again at 8pm for an hour long show covering the Laci Peterson memorial service. I have already been asked about my availability for the coming week. As they say in the media business, the story has legs.

Personally, I'm glad. I'll take every chance I can get in any case, be it Scott Peterson, John Walker Lindh, Robert Blake, Zacarias Moussaoui or anyone else, to stick up for the presumption of innocence, remind people about reasonable doubt and try to convince the viewing public to view these cases through the lens of the Constitution.

I'm glad Mark Geragos will be representing Scott Peterson. He did a great job for Susan McDougal, is media savvy --essential in defending a high-profile case--and is a seasoned, skilled defense lawyer. He will assemble a team of quality experts to assist him in investigating, preparing and presenting Scott's defense.

As for having to endure Nancy and the legions of former prosecutors who, for whatever reason, don't find anything unprofessional about going on television to voice their opinion that a person is guilty before trial, all I can say is get used to it. This is what the public has dictated it wants to watch, night after night.

Unless people stop watching and ratings go down, the Nancys and Marks are here to stay--as are we defense lawyers. Television is a business. The higher the ratings, the more the stations can charge for advertising and the more money they make. I want people to keep watching. I think we defense lawyers have a point of view that needs to be expressed at every turn. But I'd also like to see intelligent journalists like Josh Marshall cover the real issue--why does guilt sell?

High profile criminal defense lawyer and cable news commentator Mark Geragos announced today he will represent Scott Peterson, who is charged with killing his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child.

Update: Don't miss Josh Marshall on Nancy Grace.

Update: The Daily Howler has a bulls eye view of Nancy Grace as well.

The Dixie Chicks are soaring on their new tour. They are back in favor with the crowds.

A new analyis of Census data finds that extreme poverty numbers are on the rise:

The number of black youths living in extreme poverty is at its highest level in the 23 years that such statistics have been kept, according to a report released Wednesday. More than 932,000 blacks under age 18 are in that category, a 50 percent increase from the 622,000 classified that way in 1999, according to a Children's Defense Fund analysis of Census Bureau data.

[link via Atrios] We agree with Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman, who had this to say about the report's findking:

These numbers are clear indicators that, as a country, we must invest in children now instead of passing irresponsible tax breaks for the rich. “It is shameful that one million Black children are left behind in extreme poverty,” said Edelman. “It is hard to be poor. It is harder to be an extremely poor Black child in America when our President who says we should Leave No Child Behind® is proposing massive new tax breaks for the richest Americans.”

Our view has always been that we must give every child in America an equal chance to succeed. Bush hasn't done that. In fact, he's making this goal more difficult to achieve daily. Out, Out, damn spot. See spot run. See spot hide. See spot fade into oblivion. That's our goal for the spottily accomplished Bush.

MADD won't be happy with this decision, but it makes sense to us: A jury has acquitted a Woodstock woman of driving under the influence of alcohol after the defense established, through the testimony of forensic chemist James Woodford, that the DUI test was gender biased .

The jury in Lisa Bufton's drunken driving case acquitted her last month after her attorney argued the breath analysis instrument used by Georgia law enforcement personnel gives falsely high readings when used on women. The Cherokee County jurors said the Intoxilyzer 5000 should be "further evaluated for gender bias."

NORML says "hogwash" to the new British Medical Journal "Scare Mongering" Editorial alleging that pot contributes to 30,000 deaths per year in the U.K.

London, United Kingdom: NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre criticized an editorial published today in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) hypothesizing that marijuana smoking may be responsible for an estimated 30,000 deaths a year in the UK, primarily due to heart and respiratory illnesses.

"This editorial is scare mongering at its worst," said St. Pierre. "The authors of this editorial admit they have no scientific evidence to back up their claims. By far the greatest danger to health posed by the use of marijuana stems from a criminal arrest and conviction."

Although the editorial's authors acknowledge that there is a "dearth of epidemiological evidence" demonstrating pot's health hazards, and that case-controlled studies regarding marijuana's impact on health are rare, they still contend that marijuana poses a serious physical and mental health hazard. "One could calculate that if cigarettes cause an annual excess of 120,000 deaths among 13 million smokers (in the United Kingdom), the corresponding figures for deaths among 3.2 million cannabis smokers would be 30,000, assuming equality of effect," they opined.

Authors' extrapolations did not account for the fact that average tobacco smokers consume far more tobacco over the course of their lifetimes than marijuana smokers consume cannabis.

A previous large-scale population study of marijuana use and mortality conducted by Kaiser Permanente and published in the American Journal of Public Health found that marijuana use, even long-term, "showed little if any effect ... on non-AIDS mortality in men and on total mortality in women." In addition, a 1999 report by the US National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine concluded, "There is no conclusive evidence that marijuanacauses cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use."

A pair of editorials published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, reached a similar conclusion, finding: "The smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. S It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat S than alcohol or tobacco."

For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.

Zacarias Moussaoui wants John Ashcroft to take a quiz:

Zacarias Moussaoui wants Attorney General John Ashcroft to answer a multiple choice quiz about the government's theory of his role as a terrorist conspirator. Several of 17 handwritten pleadings released Thursday by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema have a version of the quiz, which asks Ashcroft to check one of four boxes.

The choices are:

20th hijacker.
5th plane pilot missing in action.
I, Ashcroft don't know.
Let's kill him anyway.

Other handwritten pleadings of Moussaoui have him predicting he will win the case and be able to leave the U.S.-

Referring to defense lawyer Frank Dunham, Moussaoui said, "No doubt that Dunham will go crazy when I, Zacarias Moussaoui, will leave the United Satan on a 747-400 1st class. Non-smoking. No drink. No women."

In another motion, he challenged President Bush to "stop playing chicken and ... come out and fight hand-to-hand combat with knife if he want to kill me."

Moussaoui said he would call experts during the penalty phase of his case to show the United States has a history of "dirty foreign policy."

But Moussaoui said he has tried without success to obtain tapes from the History Channel "to deepen my understanding on the average American mind (if they have any)."

If Moussaoui is correct and walks after being tried in federal court, we think he ought to have his own cable show, broadcast from Europe, with Comical Ali as his "Ed McMahon" sidekick. Between the two of them.....

From Behind the Homefront:

GOVERNMENT USING "SLEIGHT OF HAND" TO CLOSE MOUSSAOUI PROCEEDINGS. Eleven media organizations organizations contend the government is using "sleight of hand" to keep proceedings secret in a dispute over terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui's access to an al-Qaida prisoner. The brief filed Tuesday in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by the group, which includes the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, contends the public's right to attend hearings and view the court record is not eliminated by a law guiding use of classified information in court proceedings.

Seven Enron executives, including the wife of former CFO Andrew Fastow have surrendered to authorities to face federal charges.

The wife of Enron Corp.'s former chief financial officer Andrew Fastow and six former executives of the fallen company's defunct broadband unit surrendered to federal authorities early Thursday.

Lea Fastow, 41, a former Enron assistant treasurer, walked into the Internal Revenue Service office in Houston shortly after daybreak accompanied by an attorney.

At the same time, the six men were surrendering at an FBI office in Houston. They included the former co-chief executive officers of Enron Broadband Services, Ken Rice and Joe Hirko; Kevin Hannon, EBS chief operating officer; Dan Boyle, vice president; Ben Glisan, treasurer; and F. Scott Yeager, another executive.

At least the feds avoided the temptation of public arrests. But they won't be able to resist parading them in handcuffs for a mini perp walk when they appear in court today on the charges.

A lawyer for Dan Boyle, one of the execs, said today, ""Prosecuting this guy is like prosecuting a piano player in a whorehouse."

Mrs. Fastow's lawyers are expected to assert that she is being used as a pawn to make her husband agree to cooperate against his higher-ups, Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Her husband was indicted previously on 78 counts of fraud.

Full Enron coverage since 2001 is available from the Houston Chronicle.

James Smith, the FBI agent who had a long term romantic affair with Katrina Leung while he was her "handler" is being afforded limited immunity from proseuction. First, he gets bond and she doesn't. Now he gets limited immunity. We think this supports Leung's lawyers' contention that Smith is receiving preferential treatment.

Ms. Leung's lawyers, Janet Levine and John Vandevelde, said prosecutors' willingness to negotiate a deal demonstrated that they were treating Ms. Leung "more severely" than the retired agent. "Katrina had a few pages of outdated, useless papers that Smith brought to her house in the first place, and she voluntarily let the F.B.I. have them without asking for immunity," the lawyers said in a statement. "He was released the day of his arrest by agreement with the government. She is in jail because the government fought her release. There seems to be a double standard being used."

The Prime Minister of Canada Wednesday said that the country is ready to decriminalize possession of marijuana:

We will soon introduce legislation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana," he told a Liberal party fundraiser. ...."Some might have a criminal record that will be a shadow over his (her) life for years to come," the Prime Minister said. That makes decriminalization important so "young people do not have unnecessary criminal records for the rest of their lives."

[thanks to Manish of Damn Foreigner for the link]

Larry King Wednesday: Scott Petserson's father took on Nancy Grace, front and center. Mr. Peterson stated what so many of us watching the show the last month have noticed--Nancy's continuous demonization of Scott Peterson seems to have a personal aspect to it. Someone needed to call her on the carpet over her comments, her facial expressions and her inappropriate and complete disregard of the presumption of innocence, and Mr. Peterson, in a calm and measured tone, did a great job.

Scott Peterson likely will have a new lawyer tomorrow--Mark Geragos, who previously represented Winona Ryder and Susan MacDougal. Mark also is a constant staple on Larry King's show. We hear it's a done deal.