A quick wrap-up, also from the comments:
yes it was a totally circumstantial case. No cause of death, no time of death, no murder weapon, no evidence as to how she was killed, no identifiable crime scene, no eyewitnesses, no confessions. Nada.
There was a hair in a pair of pliers in the boat but hair is so easily transferred it does not support a conclusion that she was on the boat.
Everyone in America knew Scott Peterson's alibi was that he was fishing in the bay within a few days of her disappearance. It would be a logical place for the killer to dump the body, thereby framing Scott. In fact, that was Geragos argument, but the jury didn't buy it.
Geragos refuted every piece of evidence introduced--from the faulty cell phone towers that said Peterson was in the neighborhood after the time he said he left to the cement in his warehouse which matched the cement at his home that had been bought for a home improvement project.
The prosecution changed its motive theory repeatedly...it was money, it was Amber, it was loving the bachelor life.
Need further proof? Nancy Grace's weeks-old show on CNN's headline news (does anyone watch this channel unless they are stuck at the airport or in a hotel room?) is already a ratings success.
Luckily for her bosses, she’s also raising ratings. “Nancy Grace Premiere Week” goosed the longtime ratings laggard Headline News by 81% in the 8 p.m. (ET) timeslot and outpaced Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC.
TV Newser reports:
In total viewers, Nancy Grace tied Paula Zahn on Monday night, according to Nielsen data. Here are the raw numbers:
Zahn: 0.5 / 443,000 HH / 549,000 P2+ / 218,000 25-54
Grace: 0.4 / 350,000 HH / 549,000 P2+ / 209,000 25-54
Olbermann: 0.2 / 179,000 HH / 180,000 P2+ / 48,000 25-54
A review:
To be sure, there are important issues raging in the courtrooms. The president made tort reform a national issue. In California, the governor wants judges to redistrict the state. The U.S. Senate is poised to reconsider potential conservative judicial activists nominated by Bush. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing two cases on eminent domain that have profound implications.
Grace, however, is far more interested in the case of a teenager in Idaho charged with killing both her parents. "This girl, she's the devil's seed," proclaims Grace. On one show, we are treated to three identical live shots of the cemetery in which the parents were buried, while violins and piano music play in the background.
What makes this preference for the tawdry even harder to take is Grace's own approach to crime: a combination of sob sister and hanging judge. When a Fort Worth, Texas, mother and child disappear -- or in Grace's parlance, "went missing" -- she asks, "Who would want to hurt a seven-month pregnant woman like Lisa?" Later, showing a picture of the two, she adds: "Look at that little face. They are out there somewhere tonight." Turns out, they weren't, which was duly noted during the news hour that followed Grace. "When will it end?" Grace asked after reporting on a teacher accused of having sex with a teenager. When indeed?
