Word: simpson
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Just in time to put the Simpson trial in perspective, a full, gloomy diagnosis of the larger problem has arrived in a new book, The Jury by Stephen J. Adler, legal editor of the Wall Street Journal (Times Books; $25). Adler describes the several juries he examined from selection through trial proceedings to the deliberations that bumptiously rendered a verdict: "There were lots of sincere, serious people who -- for a variety of reasons -- were missing key points, focusing on irrelevant issues, succumbing to barely recognized prejudices, failing to see through the cheapest appeals to sympathy or hate, and generally botching...
Vinson maintains that race alone is an overrated factor in determining which potential jurors will be most sympathetic to Simpson. "We are not going to base decisions on demographics," he insists. "We are much more interested in their worldviews." The defense side may not be so convinced. Some trial observers are wondering if the increased prominence last week of Johnnie Cochran, the only black member of Simpson's A-team, is a confirmation of reports that the defense hopes to appeal to the racial sympathies of black jurors. Studies show that blacks and whites are both more lenient toward defendants...
...recap of the day's entertainment news, the E! cable channel's little noticed E! News Daily gives the most bang for the buck. The show last Tuesday, for example, covered everything important that its rivals did (the death of songwriter Jule Styne, Katie Couric's interview with O.J. Simpson's grown children). But it had several other newsy tidbits too, from Elizabeth Montgomery's suit for $5 million in residuals from Bewitched to a piece on the pollution problems caused by Woodstock. E! of course has plenty of publicity fluff elsewhere; it devotes whole shows, not just segments...
...Simpson Case...
With jury selection in the O.J. Simpson murder case set to begin on Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys spent their last week of pretrial hearings arguing over the admissibility of critical evidence seized by police at Simpson's estate. Judge Lance Ito ruled in favor of the prosecution on the vast majority of the disputed evidence. He also attacked what he called "outrageous" and "incorrect" reporting on the case and threatened to kick TV cameras out of the courtroom...