Jacko Prosecutors Celebrate Early: Victory Already Declared

Fox News ^ | 6/10/2005 | Roger Friedman

[katieanna]

The prosecutors in Michael Jackson’s child molestation and conspiracy case apparently feel they’ve already won their case. On Wednesday night, the whole lot of them — DA Tom Sneddon, Ron Zonen, Gordon Auchincloss, their wives and families — all celebrated at the Hitching Post restaurant in Casmalia.

[Howlin]

Do you think this might be a mischaracterization of what they did? Maybe they were all just getting together because once the verdict comes in, they will all go their separate ways?

[Howlin]

Gosh, have you missed his columns? He's pretty well trashed Jackson 24/7.

[colorado tanker]

It is common knowledge in the legal profession that the longer a jury deliberates, the more likely a conviction. But it doesn't always happen, I've seen some defense verdicts and hung juries from long deliberations.

[katieanna]

I do not know what to make of it. I cannot imagine any of the jurors would have any type of contact with the DAs office.

[Red Badger]

Isn't that against most fire codes?.......

[A CA Guy]

Officers outside the jury door must be in communication with the prosecution.

[bill1952]

Sure, but you clarified your statement with a logical explanation.

Stalls without doors is not a mistake because a stall needs no door to be written as one.

The room with no door or doorway is a mushroom.

[bonfire]

More than likely the tension is KILLING them and they needed a break.

[GOP_1900AD]

RE: Hitching Post restaurant in Casmalia.

Good place! [Hopefully their celebration has not jinxed the outcome!]

[dead]

Either way, what on earth will Greta and Fox News do when this is over?

Somewhere out there, there is a pregnant woman who doesn’t know that her upcoming murder (at the hands of her secretely weird husband) will lead to her name being splashed countless thousands of times out of the mouth of Greta Van Shlusterahn.

[katieanna]

Very astute observation. I had not considered that.

[GOP_1900AD]

Even the overt pedophilic suspicions about his behavior aside, having a painting like that of one's self implies a highly disturbing level of narcissism.

[jimbo123]

Read Friedman's archive at this link. He's trashed the prosecution and his digs at Jackson have primarily been about his finances and advisors.


Jacko Prosecution's Timeline Doesn't Jibe

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155329,00.html

Jacko's Receipts Could Exonerate Him

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,157331,00.html

[lillybet]

Expect the unexpected, I say

[Political Junkie Too]

Wasn't there a report during the OJ trial that a bailiff tipped off Cochran that the jury acquitted before the verdict was actually read in court?

-PJ

[Innisfree]

If it's the same writer, he's a vile creature. I believe Gibson, who has a flair for metaphor, said that he would like to "roast his intestines on a stick." At first glance, this article looks like a cheap reverse psychology tactic for the benefit of the defense, whatever Friedman may have written in the past.

In any event this report is highly questionable and not really news---more like a tabloid report.

[operation clinton cleanup]

True. I thought that little bit of information about a "room with no door" was odd. Maybe it has some hip meaning in California.

[Iron Eagle]

For anyone who has ever tried a case, this means nothing. Cases, particularly large, long, or complicated cases take over your whole life -- often working 15 hour days during trial and at night. A case like this where you are doing all of that and handling the strain of having your every move guessed, has to be even more draining.

A post trial dinner/decompression is quite common. It says more about decompression and relaxation, than about how one side feels about a verdict not yet reached.

Trying to read something into this dinner, and the fact that the Prosecutors brought their wives and had a good time, is something a non-lawyer would do -- particularly if he or she has space to fill in a column.

[jimbo123]

Friedman's campaign against Mel Gibson:

Mel Gibson: $5 Mil to Fringe Church

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,111979,00.html

Gibson's 'Passion' in Very 'Select' Theatres

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,111307,00.html

[jimbo123]

More from Roger Friedman...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,112427,00.html

The Poisonous Legacy of 'The Passion'

Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" opens today following a lot of cheesy hoopla and cynical exploitation on the part of Gibson and his distributor, Newmarket Films. For Gibson's part, there isn't much of a surprise there. For Newmarket, which will release a film this fall starring Kevin Bacon as a pederast, well, we're just getting to know them, aren't we?

I saw "The Passion" at midnight last night in Los Angeles, since neither Newmarket nor Gibson's people would accommodate me with a press screening. Never mind, though, it was far more interesting to plunk down $11 at the Hollywood ArcLight and see "The Passion" with a big group.

Is the movie anti-Semitic? Several reviewers have already said it is. I can tell you this: Thanks to Gibson, when non-Jews around the world now see the Jewish prayer shawl, the tallis, on the heads of praying Jews, they will think, 'Oh yeah, those were worn by the angry crowds in "The Passion" who insisted that Jesus be killed and then patiently watched him be tortured to death.' Thanks to Gibson, we are reminded that Jesus' friend Judas — a Jew — was easily sold out for some gold that was thrown at him in exchange for his betrayal. It's the return of the money-grubbing Jew, straight out of the old anti-Semite playbook.

There's more, of course, but none of this is a revelation at this point. Gibson's Jews are caricatures with bulbous noses. To say they lack compassion is an understatement. They are almost always pictured as an angry, unrelenting mob that wants Jesus dead no matter what. It's so stupid that it's almost not anti-Semitic. It just makes Gibson look like an idiot.

But the real problem with "The Passion" is that it is graphic beyond belief, and unrelenting. How anyone will be able to sit through this thing is the real mystery. There is blood, blood, everywhere. The violence toward Jesus is sadistic and grotesque. Basically, the entire second half of the film is spent watching Jesus endure physical torture never before seen in a movie. By the time it's done, actor James Caviezel's body is a map of bloody rivers and lakes with craters of flesh excised from his torso.

Is this disgusting? You bet. It's also puzzling, because what Gibson hasn't done in "The Passion" is explain his love of Christ or his own passion or devotion. We have no idea why Christ is so reviled by the Jews, what he's done to earn their anger, or what he's done to earn Gibson's respect. From the moment the film begins, Jesus is simply a target for unbridled, unrestrained bloodlust. Yes, we get to see the nails driven through him, blood spurting in every direction, skin being torn in the process.

Is there anything that's learned by witnessing this enactment? I wish I could say there was, but there isn't. It's simple brutality, with a hard rock music track playing in the background. I'm not sure that it's so different from Gibson's character dislocating his shoulder on purpose in one of the "Lethal Weapon" movies.

So here's the problem. Since we don't know who Jesus was before the day of his death, and since all we see are rabid packs of Jews in shawls who want him dead, followed by the long merciless death itself, what is Gibson's point? That Christ died for our sins? Or that he was murdered by crazy, vicious mobs who didn't understand him? My question is, How will the Hollywood cognoscenti respond to "The Passion"? Will they remain silent and hope it goes away? Or will someone speak out? There is no end of voices when it comes to sex and violence in mainstream movies. Where are those voices now?