I am a criminal defense lawyer by trade. I am First Vice President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the preeminent bar association of criminal defense lawyers in the world. We have 13,000 direct members and 30,000 indirect members through 90 state and local affiliates.
When Jay Leno was regularly ranting about why Jon Benet Ramsey's parents, John and Patsy, had not been arrested in her murder, along with the obvious incompetence of the Boulder Police Department, I e-mailed to complain that there is a presumption of innocence in this country that is a part of our heritage as a nation, and he was mocking it by accusing the parents worse than tabloid journalism; such as the missing white woman (or girl) syndrome that so quickly consumes the media.

I asked him to respect the process and let the investigation play out. Instead, he pandered to the audience to extreme applause. I got no answer.

It got to the point where I quit watching the show because an accusation of murder (or any serious crime) of an uncharged person is serious business and should not be the butt of jokes. It pained me professionally to see and hear these jokes, and it drove me away from the show. I lost a lot of respect for Jay Leno as a social commentator as a result.

[Scott Peterson or Michael Jackson et al. on trial or already convicted are fair game. There was evidence. He was speculating worse than the National Enquirer.]

At 6:40 p.m. EDT today, CNN.com announces that a man with intimate details of the crime linked by DNA has confessed and was arrested in Thailand, and it sure is not John Ramsey.

Patsy Ramsey is now dead, but she was apparently informed of the lead before she died.

I respectfully submit that it is time for Jay Leno to apologize to the Ramseys, and to our constitutional process of "innocent until proven guilty." If he does, I will come back.