Is that a great coincidence or what?
Hearing turns spotlight on Durham
BY RAY GRONBERG : The Herald-Sun, Dec 15, 2006 : 12:02 am ET
DURHAM -- Today's hearing in the Duke lacrosse case is again turning the national spotlight on the City of Medicine.
The draw is "the spotlight [the case puts] on the criminal justice system," said Greta Van Susteren, an attorney and Fox News cable channel talk show host who traveled to Durham Thursday. "This has become a very important thing. You either have a prosecutor who's been grossly maligned by everybody, or a prosecutor who needs to find a different job. It's one of the two. It's been important to find out."
A pair of prominent pro-defense Internet commentators, or bloggers, who have followed the case closely -- Brooklyn College professor Robert "K.C." Johnson and Duke alumnus and Maryland lawyer Jason Trumpbour -- also made the trek south.
Durham County Sheriff's Office deputies said they anticipate no trouble in handling the expected media glare. They compared media interest in the Duke case to that of the murder trial of novelist Michael Peterson.
"It is no better or worse than it was the other 14 times they've been here," Chief Deputy Wes Crabtree said. "If everybody pays attention and follows the protocol, they'll have the access they need or want."
Crabtree estimated that the hearing room where today's proceedings will occur can accommodate 40 to 50 people. "There literally shouldn't be anyone in there but the media and the attorneys," he said.
Leaks and pre-trial maneuvering by lawyers have given the media a chance to dissect known evidence in the case before it has been presented in court. Van Susteren denied that there is any merit to complaints that the attention amounts to trial by media or that it would taint the potential jury pool.
"I happen to think the media looking at cases is good if there's a situation where there may have been a grave injustice," she said.
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-799598.cfm