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Toobin: Media should soul-search after Anthony verdict
The news media should reflect on its coverage of Casey Anthony after the Florida woman was found not guilty of murder in her daughter’s death, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said.
But he added the verdict also helps show that intense media coverage doesn’t necessarily lead to juries that are eager to convict a defendant.
Toobin’s comments came after Anthony attorney J. Cheney Mason - after Anthony’s acquittal Tuesday - blasted what he called “incompetent talking heads” and a “media assassination” of Anthony.
Mason said that “colleagues from coast to coast and border to border have condemned this whole process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases that they don’t know a damn thing about and don’t have the experience to back up their words or the law to do it.”
National media coverage of the case began in July 2008, the month that 2-year-old Caylee Anthony’s family reported her missing. The coverage was spurred in part by reports the family hadn’t reported the girl missing until a month after she was last seen; the child’s remains were found in a wooded area later that year.
Toobin said he doubted Mason’s team would take legal action against the talking heads Mason railed against, saying the matter “will be dealt with appropriately in the court of public opinions.” But Toobin said it was safe to say that some media coverage was “very much negative toward Casey Anthony.”
“The media’s performance will be something we should all discuss,” Toobin said.
Former prosecutor Nancy Grace, whose show on CNN sister network HLN has featured the case extensively, defended the media coverage. "I find it interesting that his first reaction was to attack the media like we had something to do with it," she said. "We didn't have anything to do with it; this was all tot mom."
She added, "There is no way that this is a verdict that speaks the truth." Also Tuesday, Grace said that “as the defense sits by and as their champagne toast after that not guilty verdict, somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight.”
Attorney Debra Opri, arguing that the media is the “13th juror,” said lawmakers may want to see “what steps … we have to take, without stepping on the First Amendment, to protect” defendants’ rights to a fair trial.
Toobin said government regulation isn’t necessary, and that the Anthony trial and other high-profile cases show that media scrutiny doesn’t necessarily lead juries to issue convictions.
“(Opri’s) argument … is that the media had too much influence. You know, Nancy Grace was on TV for three years saying (Anthony) was guilty, and the jury said otherwise,” Toobin said. “Michael Jackson – also acquitted (of child molestation in 2005). O.J. Simpson – also acquitted (of murder in 1995). William Kennedy Smith – also acquitted (of rape in 1991)."
Tom Mesereau, an attorney for Jackson in the entertainer's 2005 case, concurred.
"I think this defense team focused on the courtroom, not the media. The media likes to think that they're going to influence these verdicts, and look at the history," Mesereau told CNN's "In the Arena" on Tuesday night, citing the Jackson and Simpson cases, as well as the 2005 trial of actor Robert Blake, who was acquitted of murder.
Toobin said that if media coverage affected the trial, the influence might have been seen in the prosecution's decision to make this a death penalty case.
"(This) always seemed like a wrong decision to me, given the ... absence of a cause of death (and) a time of death," Toobin said. "To make this a death penalty case sounded to me like the prosecutors had been spending too much time listening to people on cable news being outraged about the case rather than evaluating the evidence in the cold light of reality, and I think that was where the media influence was, more than in how the jurors behaved."
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NANCY GRACE IS GOING TO EXPOSE HER NETWORK AND GUEST TALKIGN HEADS TO A WHOLE SLEW OF LAWSUITS AND SERVES THEM RIGHT. HER HOLIER THAN THOU, ABOVE THE LAW, I'M A BETTER MOM THAN YOU BECAUSE I'M ANGRIER THAN YOU (MAINLY BECAUSE SHE STAKED HER CAREER FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS ON PERSECUTING SOMEONE WHO DID NOT MURDER CAYLESS NO MATTER WHAT ELSE SHE MAY HAVE DONE – AND WS PROVEN WRONG!!!) – KEEP THIS PECAN-PIE MANIAC AWAY FROM SETTING UP JURORS AS TARGETS FOR ANGRIER NUT PIES THAN HERSELF.
How could the media not be involved? I remember 3 years and some months ago, when I heard on the media that a little 2 year old was missing. I looked at my beautiful neighbor's daughter,who was two, and thought, "Oh, my God. Where is Caylee". Then the lies started coming in. Her mom, FINALLY ADMITTED THAT SHE HAD NOT SEEN HER FOR 31 DAYS!!. That was the "drawing in to this case factor" for me. I silently begged Casey, "Please tell me what happened?"
Three years later, I was ready for this case to come to trial. Tell me what happened Casey. Millions of us felt the same way, as can be seen from the blogs from all over the world. How dare the defense say that the media was against her. The media is us, and we wanted to know. Thank you for bringing us up date on the case, media.
I am a Christian, and I believe, "Jesus doeth all this well. HIs mysteries to reveal". If Ms. Anthony or family is guilty or not guilty, time will tell.
Casey, what happened to Caylee?
I find it disturbing that an attorney with an audience should call the media a "thirteenth juror." If so, then every trial that makes the news is a mistrial. This "thirteenth juror" is not privy to the full extent of evidence, testimony and argument, is not bound to avoid outside influence (hardly; it IS outside influence), is not required to refuse to discuss the case with others (hell, they're in business to do the opposite), is not subject to recall for improper behavior, and how many other things of the kind? Thirteenth juror, indeed. Wake up, Ms. Opri, and pretend you know more about the law than what you managed to memorize-and then, apparently forget-to pass the bar.
I agree with your other points, but the media certainly is privy to everything the jury is – they're in the courtroom, too. Plus, you're belaboring the metaphor beyond what it was meant to achieve.
Shame on NANCY GRACE – why is she so BITTER about anything under the earth! How does she know definitively that it was the tot mom who killed the young girl......stop demonizing people Nancy
Casey Anthony is the only one who needs to do any soul searching in this case.
Over & done. Get on with your lives. The Anthony family is clearly doing that.
How Ironic . . . the media made themself guilty 🙂
The "media" convicted some on the news for 3 years, so that someone gets off the hook, how ironic.
There is NO justice 🙁 . . . only when U breathe U do justice. U do not sitt on ur fat ass like most lawyers and make justice, NOT how it works 🙂
You're the rocket scientists that pay Nancy Grace to spew venom and malice for ratings..she is a 4th estate train wreck waiting to go all "Glenn Beck" on us and you the media are practicing some seriously yellow journalism..Murrow and Kronkite would have been laughing so hard they'd pass out...
Don't you love how Toobin or Twobit as we call him around here leaves himself above the fray and not part of the CNN MSM cabal and tribe out there living and breathing this crud to earn their exorbitant paychecks he so roundly criticizes while like Geraldo makes sure everyone hears "well of course I knew all along ...blah blah"...
Every liberal today should move to have their middle names changed to Freaking Hypocrite.
THIS WOMAN NANCY GRACE WAS ALL IN FOR THE RATING AND MONEY. SHE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT THE CASE LIKEMANY TV JURORS AND JUDGES. NOW WILL ALL THE TV JURORS AND JUDGES SHUT UP.FOOLS
Mr. Toobin – I laugh everytime you get on TV and tell us about the "soul searching" everyone should do! Maybe we searched our souls and realized that although it may have been a "proper verdict" – we have a right to be outraged at a two yr old girl being dumped in a plastic bag in the woods. Unfortunately I have come to the sad realization that the ENTIRE Anthony family played the public and the media like a fiddle – not once have I heard them thank the media, law enforcement and the countless volunteers who they USED to search for their granddaughter. And Mr. Toobin – with your past "indiscretions" you have a lot of nerve lecturing society about anything. I don't think I'll be using you as my moral compass anytime soon.....
I FEEL THAT THE NETWORKS SHOULD DIAL BACK THE NANCY'S AND BILL'S TYPES
BECAUSE THEY CONVICT PEOPLE IN THE MEDIA. PEOPLE WHO ARE INNOCENCE THERE FAMILY'S SHOULD START SUING THEM OR PUT A GAG ORDER AGAINST THEM. THEY HAVE NO TRUE INFORMATION ON THESE TYPES OF CASES. CONVICTION BY THE PRESS SHOULD ADDRESSED BY THE LAW MAKERS OF AMERICA. BUT THAT WON'T HAPPEN HOW THE UNDER HANDED DA'S WIN THEIR CASES WITHOUT THERE PRESS COVERAGE.
After being in Orlando to visit with family and having to go through the area where the courthouse was, as well as what I saw on television, I believe the media is nothing but a bunch of circus clowns trying to outdo one another in their performance, no matter who they hurt in the process. I do not believe Casey Anthony is without blame here, but the way things were twisted by the media created a mob sentiment, as some people listen and believe what they are hearing and make judgments accordingly. Gratefully, the jury was not swayed by anything that they might have heard, but listened and made the only conclusion they could. Hopefully, someday whoever knows what happened to that little girl will get honest about it and if Casey Anthony had done what she should have in coming forward instead of feeling like she had to lie about what she should have been forthright about, things might have been different. She has to live with whatever she is hiding and as we have seen in other cases, sooner or later you pay for your misdeeds. I am saddened by the media's attention and their need to create sensationalism and the public's need to believe what they hear, that is a small part of what is wrong with our society and a good part of why I seldom turn on the news. . .
it's us, we watch tv, check news websites and buy magazines/newspapers. If we stop paying attention to media it will die down. media is fueled by demand, and we are who represent this demand. Start with yourself, everyone! There will be no book deal if there will be no buyers. As simple as that.
This Jane whats her name that is on HLN now is making me sick, Her and Nancy Grace GUESSED wrong. Please can we have more drama from these 2 screaching chickens??? Is Casey guilty? I think so, and I hope she gets hers someday!! Get over it you 2, How about jumping on another one of Florida's 12 open cases concerning dead children??? Because it does sell air time?? Sick and Sad