Monthly Musings

Glad To be Back

[May 2002]

It's been awhile, but after a well-deserved R&R, the "Legal Gadfly" is back, and boy do I have a wealth of material to work with.

This month, we'll attack (once again) the press and their seeming preoccupation with celebrity crimes. Never mind that the homicide rate in L.A., alone, is up 50% from last year - never mind that children are being murdered in their yard's, in their homes, and on their way home from school - in the the name of selling "print", "airtime", etc., the Fourth Estate (hereinafter F/E) has chosen instead to focus its attention and attendant budget on the likes of "Bobby Blake"¹.

What is it about celebrity status that makes their lives worth more attention? Is it the fact that the public likes nothing better than "the fall of the high and mighty" - the drop from the pedestal of celebrity? Or is it that the F/E has decided not to give us a choice - force-feeding print and television down our throats until there is nothing left to view?

I recently caught a "TV journalist" (for lack of a better description, one who is defined as possessing thick hair, perfect teeth and stoicism rather than any real talent or journalistic ability) actually referring to the mélange of TV cameras and personnel crowded about the Van Nuys courthouse² as "OJ-2". Could it be that there is a parallel to be drawn between the two??? (Get outta town!)

And if you think that's bad, one local station even wasted five minutes on an interview with - you guessed it - OJ himself. The depth of the questions asked therein was staggering! "DO YOU THINK HE'S GUILTY?" As if his opinion was as valuable as Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz or the "perennial legal commentator" and USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky³.

Not only are the airwaves replete with everyone from Gloria Allred to OJ (imagine Gloria and OJ in the same sentence!), but it seems as though everyone has an opinion on BB's guilt - even without any credible evidence being offered (other than rumor and innuendo)! It seems that the old adage is indeed true - "Opinions are like ... - everybody has one!"

* * *

This having been said, what do I consider the salient issues to be considered by habitués of The Aleagle Perspective ?

First, why does the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakely deserve the immense expense, manpower and attention it has gleaned? Is the worth of her life any greater than the lesser teenager killed in the street as a result of random violence? Is her death any more heinous the the multitude of rapes, murders and tortures with which the media has been replete? Is Blake entitled to more attention by virtue of the fact that he was once (a very, very long time ago) a celebrity?

Second, should the DA seek the death penalty in this case, taking into consideration the age of BB (professed to be 70, but in reality closer to 68 - although by the time this case goes to the jury, he could be well over 70), the reticence of the jury to want the execution of a "celebrity" (a fall from grace is one thing - but the lethal injection of Baretta is yet another!)?

Third, should the trial be televised? First impressions are that the prosecution wants the trial televised while the defense does not - what a "180"!

I'm open to your feedback - don't hesitate to vent!

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¹Charged with murder (of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakely), two counts of solicitation of murder, conspiracy and the special circumstance of lying in wait. His bodyguard Earle Caldwell has been charged with conspiracy.

²Even OJ would most likely have been summarily convicted had he been tried in the venue where the crime was committed (Santa Monica), rather than downtown (Central) LA.

³In this regard, we are on somewhat equal footing, having been a professor of Constitutional law at Pepperdine Law School.

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