It seems that Judge Rodney Melville, who is presiding over the pre trial hearings of Michael Jackson's child molestation charges, feels that the amount of evidence in the public domain is excessive.
"Extolling" the spirit of "freedom of speech", that is the moral backbone to the USA's political and legal system; Judge Melville is reported to have said yesterday (Thursday), that he wants to avoid media reporting and analysis of the evidence.
The Judge did release a large number of search warrant request forms, that are reported to show the extent of the nationwide search for evidence including; searches of banks, shops and the internet.
However, three key pieces of information were missing from this pre trial "appetiser":
1 The identity of the accounts being searched
2 What was being searched for
3 What was found
Judge Melville is reported to believe that any information revealed, would be subject to intense scrutiny and analysis by the media. This in turn could possibly contaminate the potential jury pool.
Whilst there is a semblance of logic in what he says, by performing a "teasing strip show" with the evidence will only stir up speculation and rumour. The media will go into a frenzy of speculation, causing people to conclude that "there is no smoke without fire"; and forming a judgement before the trial has even started.
I would say, from my humble perspective of being "the man in the street", that this will probably do more damage than good to the chances of conducting a fair trial; it will also taint the image of the American legal system as a whole.
Needless to say attorney Theodore Boutrous, the media's lawyer, has a different perspective to that of Judge Melville.
No surprise there then!
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