Word: courtrooms
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...KENNEDY JR. The son of the slain President is telling visitors to his modest New York City studio apartment that he resisted making a high-profile show of solidarity at cousin Willie's rape trial, but he bowed to family pressure and spent some uncomfortable time in the courtroom. He is also very upset that his father's brutal assassination is being re-examined with the release of Oliver Stone's controversial JFK. "Maybe I'll just have to leave town," says the 31-year- old Manhattan assistant district attorney with a sigh...
...cause was not helped by Lasch's plodding courtroom performance. She was clearly despondent after Smith's boy-next-door performance on the witness stand. He calmly described accepting the woman's offer of a ride home from Au Bar, a popular Palm Beach night spot, and then walking with her along the beach. After exchanging kisses, he testified, the couple had two sexual encounters -- though the romantic mood was broken when he mistakenly called her "Cathie." Unable to shake Smith's story, Lasch resorted to expressions of incredulity that two people who had met in a notorious pickup joint...
...public about sexual crimes, following Anita Hill's testimony," says Lee Bollinger, dean of the University of Michigan law school. No less important, the daily coverage is a window onto the real conduct of trials. Without the cameras there, says Steven Brill, president of cable TV's Courtroom Television Network, "you would see 'ambush shots' of Smith and his lawyers going into the courthouse. Here you see dignity and solemnity...
...Viewers also learn to appreciate that in courtroom testimony, demeanor and delivery are crucial. Prosecutor Moira Lasch must still be regretting that she called Anne Mercer to the stand. On the night of the alleged incident, Mercer went with Smith's accuser to Au Bar, the tony Palm Beach hangout where they met Smith in the company of his uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy, and Kennedy's son Patrick. Lasch got what she wanted from Mercer: testimony that the alleged victim yelled "rape" early on. The jury may remember her fashion-mag appearance and soulless manner...
...truth is, from the point of view of the working press, it's generally pretty dull stuff. Hours are spent hanging around the courthouse waiting to be one of the 16 reporters admitted to the drab little courtroom in which the case is being tried. The rest of the time, the hundreds of journalists (including several dozen from France, England, Germany, Spain and Italy) lounge around a makeshift media center watching Court TV, which they could do in their hotel rooms. At one point, a reporter sitting in a room full of 90 journalists, who are watching the trial...