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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."
Please!!!!!!!! I am so tired of hearing about this case! Let it go enough is enough! media please quit reporting on thiscase and leave this woman alone! There are other kids I am sure that have received abuse....... Stop abusing me with more news on this! Get a life!
it is quite amazing to read 'stories' like toobin's and comments like those on this 'story'. people are more up in arms about Nancy Grace and her reporting than they are about kc and her killing Caylee. if she didn't do it, her obscene behaviour made it possible for whoever did to get away with it. at the very least she is an accomplice. PEOPLE DO NOT STAGE A MURDER OUT OF AN ACCIDENT. Get your heads out of the sand and understand, a baby killer will soon be walking the streets, wanting to get pregnant again. IMHO
We have the sad death of a little girl and the country goes into gridlock. All stations are still running the Anthony verdict wall to wall.
Meanwhile, teachers and principals in Atlanta GA are accused of cheating on standardized tests. Why no media coverage?
The jobless rate INCREASED last month during this period of robust economic recovery. Obama himself said there are probably no 'shovel ready' projects he touted to sell the stimulus programs.
More people are taking out interest-only adjustable rate mortgages again... the true cause to all the foreclosures.
You hear none of this on TV, radio, print or even the internet. Perhaps buried deep, but hard to find with all the TOT MOM nonsense.
The trial was lost when the jury was selected from another community. All tirals should be held in and the jury selected from the community where the crime happened. Communities should be able to decide if their community will take a hard stance against crime or not. Moving jury selection is just something that lawyers have come up with. Judges are former lawyers as are most of congress. We the people should have more of a say on how we want to fight crime (or not).
Becky, perhaps if the media hadn't made such a circus out of this case, it could have been tried by a "local" jury. When the news is saturated with a case, talking about evidence, etc, then the only was to get an UNBIASED jury is to move outside the community.
you can not have it any way you want --caley is free-simple--and---nancy grace is a total failure-she failed with oj–he walked–she totally failed with gary conduit–and conduiut won a setlemet–she fails with the halloways case and he was let free in civil NEW YORK COURT– nacey grace is never right–now fox news has failed so badly they have to close down the newspaper news of the world--a group of fialures born to fail–frank
Please explain this about your justice system , the defense tried an approach of an accidental death and the jury bought into it.
So it is o.k. , to dump your dead child in a swamp and forget about it.
This woman should have at least received a long jail sentence.
The media dutifully chants the mantra, "This is the best system of justice in the world". Keep saying it, over and over, until you believe it. If ever a case screamed for a switch from a jury of 12 (in this case, morons) to a judge alone listening to and weighing the evidence before rendering a verdict, it's this one. Toobin l-o-v-e-s to sit on the sidelines, saying "Nyah, nyah, told ya so" – his pronouncements are irrelevant.
I could not agree more I would rather have a Judge try me then any of the people who are still screaming about this. I am sorry you did not get the verdict you did not want, but like it or not you have to live with it. There will not be a do over. I am guessing you were not there that day so you have no clue what happened. I do agree 100% about not reporting her child missing, but if she were already dead what is there to report? I am asking just to please let this go away.
THE MEDIA HAS FUELED THE PUBLIC NEGATIVELY INSTEAD OF REINFORCING THE ROLE OF A JURY AND HOW THE LEGAL SYSTEM WORKS DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY DISAGREE WITH THIS VERDICT .. THE TALKING HEADS SHOULD OWN RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT THEY REPORT AND THE TONE THEY SET WHEN REPORTING. IT WILL MAKE PEOPLE THINK TWICE IF THEY FIND THEMSELVES ON A JURY IN THE FUTURE, THEY SHOULD NOT BE FEARFUL OR TORN APART FOR DOING THEIR DUTY IN A HIGHLY EMOTIONALLY CHARGED CASE! THEY (HLN)REPORTERS & OTHERS SHOULD DO SOME SERIOUS SOUL SEARCHING FOR SURE AND ADVOCATE RESPECT FOR THE SYTEM WE HAVE REGARDLESS OF THE OUTCOME OF THIS CASEY ANTHONY CASE-THERE HAVE BEEN OTHER CASES CONTROVERSAL IN THE PAST AND UNFORTUNATELY THERE WILL BE OTHERS IN THE FUTURE-DONT SET A NEGATIVE EXAMPLE ADVOCATING HATE ,ANGER, AND POTENTIAL RETALIATION & VIOLENCE-THIS WORLD HAS ENOUGH ANGRY PEOPLE IN IT AND A CHILD HAS TRAGICALLY DIED-THE MESSAGE SHOULD BE RESPECTFUL NOT HATEFUL-EVEN IF THE MEDIA AND MOST PEOPLE DISAGREE WITH THE VERDICT. MOVE ON !
I whole heartly agree with you karen. I think the job (HLN) did of reporting this terrible incident was shameful. They as well as CNN has lost all creditablility with me as far as being an unbiased, credible news source. As much as I deplore FOX and thier political point of view I find myself tuned into their station for more, as they say "Fair and Balanced" reporting. It's no wonder they're beating the brakes off CNN in the ratings(LOL) HLN should change thier name to NEN (National Enquirer News) because they've morfied into nothing more then a tabloid news outlet. To allow Ms.Grace, who's as rude and arrogant, as they come, to continually make disparaging remarks concerning Ms. Anthony was totally unprofessional and out of bounds, regardless of how passionate she felt about it. You would think from listening to her that she was there and saw the whole thing. We should now start to call her "Mop Head".
I totaly agree with you! What gets me the journalist are making money off of this why dont they donate some the money their making to help the anthony family since there so worried. No one has thought about her dad who is a retired law officer, who would have the knowledge to leave a human i a bag so that no evidence could be extracted from the remains??? There was no finger prints, fibers, or any smokin gun. I was a criminal investigator and worked in a crime lab. We have bigger problems ecomony
Do not be surprise, if their is a hate charge in the works- any one that promotes and use a public form to injure,damage or to destroy because a result was not in their liking should not incite this type of hate.
Get Casey under Federal Law for the Volation of the Civil Rights of Caylee ! Worked in the South when whites beat murder charges for killing Blacks! History is my bag. Now unleash the lawyers on that.
It is sad that in a world of promise the little girl that this case focuses on has been forgotten. I don't personally care about the media persecuting this mother because she deserved everything she is experiencing. When JonBenet Ramsey came up murdered her parents did not lie yet the media was relelntless and noone defended them. This mother told so many lies how is the public supposed to give her the benefit of the doubt. This family is in desperate need of help cause they are all sick.
LETS SEE IF ONE OF CASEYS DUMB LAYWERS HAVE A GRANDCHILD OR THERE CHILD GET MURDERED LES SEE IF THE GET JUSTICE. AND CASEY WANTS MORE CHILDREN. THATS A JOKE,WHAT IS SHE GOING TO TELL HER CHILDREN OH I HAD A CHILD BUT I KILLED HER. AND THE JURORS WERE A SAD CASE FOR JURORS, HALF OF THEM DIDNT TAKE NOTES,DIDNT ASK FOR ANY TRANSCRIPTS,,DID IT IN 14 HOURS..OMG HOW SAD. GLAD FLORIDA RESIDENTS ARE OUT RAGED. THIS MKES ME SICK.
CNN hln should lose their lic from FCC and nacny grace should have new show. Called. Big mouth. I hate her
Jeffrey Toobin is an idiot. At the very least she should have been charged with aggravated child abuse for not reporting the so called 'accident' (which I don't for a minute believe it was an accident) for 31 days.
At the beginning the media just reported the unbelievable facts, that a baby was missing and the mom chose not report it. Then, as more information poured in about Casey's lying etc. EVERYONE became outraged. I don't think the media caused me to have an opinion, they just reported the facts as they were known and if some of them (media) are as outraged as 2/3rds of Americans they have a right to show it. The only punishment Casey Anthony will ever have is knowing that 2/3rds of the people in the world think she is a murderess. How the defense can rejoice in their victory when a tiny little girl was thrown in a swamp by her mother and left to rot is beyond comprehension also. I'm 68 years old and still amazed at the evil in this world.
And one more thing, Casey Anthony is a sociopath or a psychopath, she will go on to cause more horror and heartbreak, we have not heard the last of her. Mark my words!!!!!
If "the media has too much influence", why wasn't Casey found guilty? Blaming the media in this case doesn't make any more sense than the jury's verdict does!