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Reno Conference also covered Scott Peterson who is HINO with a boat.

The panelists included:

Judge Richard Jones, who presided over the case of Gary Ridgway. Known as the Green River Killer, he pleaded guilty to 48 murders in Seattle.

Judge George Greer, who oversaw the Terry Schiavo case. Schiavo was at the center of an intense right-to-die case when her husband sought to have her feeding tube removed. Greer granted the removal in March and she died 13 days later.

Mark Geragos, lawyer for Scott Peterson, who was convicted in November of killing his wife, Laci and the fetus she was carrying. Peterson was sentenced to death in March.

Gerald Schwartzbach, lawyer for actor Robert Blake, who was acquitted of charges of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

Michael McCann, the prosecutor in the case against Jeffrey Dahmer, who was convicted of killing 17 boys and men in Milwaukee.

Many at the conference lamented the blurred lines between "entertainment media" and legitimate news organizations, and agreed that much of the public accepts the information offered in news-entertainment shows as fact.

Others said even mainstream news organizations sometimes present stories in a sensational manner and allow these types of stories to eclipse more important news, such as civil-rights issues and government misconduct.

Many participants also suggested that cases such as Peterson's, a basic wife-murder trial, erupt into national news stories because people become invested in the lives of the players.

"Laci was the victim of the crime, but she became the heroine of the story," said Peter Shaplen, a media coordinator for the Jackson and Peterson trials. Laci's mother and Peterson's mistress became the victims instead, he said.

"We embrace victims," he said. "And TV becomes their champions, the investigator and the inquisitor."

FV SAYS: We embraced Terri. Look at how Greer's footnote says he granted the removal of the feeding tube. In reality, HE ISSUED A DEATH WARRANT. "Granting" is much too soft a word for what judicial tyrant and criminal Greed did to Terri. LOOK AT HOW MANY MURDERERS' CASES WERE COVERED AT THE CONFERENCE. HINO lumped in with murderers where he belongs!