Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

  Court TV is a cable station that carries real trials, some times edited and
some times live.

  The current format usually consists of an anchor person and a legal pundit,
usually a trial lawyer covering one or more trials. When they cover trials live
(or give same day coverage of important trials), the anchor person gives a
typical anchor introduction then they switch to the trial. When breaks occur,
the anchor person talks with the pundit or with a reporter live at the court
house. 

  In addition to the live or same day coverage they have packaged presentations
of recent trials. Most often those are edited to fit into a one hour time
slot. They still use the anchor format but it is more scripted and the trail
itself is edited (i.e. you don't see the endless side bars and motions to
suppress evidence, etc). 

  There are other features such as a program by Aurther Miller, a Harvard Law
School professor, and a show called "Lock and Key" which seems to be packaged
coverage of parole hearings. 

  Recently on an episode of Lock and Key they showed the last Charles Manson
parole hearing which took place in April of 1992. Manson and his followers were
convicted of 1st degree murder for killing actress Sharon Tate many years ago. 

  Manson told the parole board that by locking him up they missed their chance
of his continuing "the dream". He was a bit scattered in his presentation but I
gathered that he was talking about continuing Adolf Hitlers 3rd Rich. He said
that if they didn't let him out the world would really go "Helter Skelter", a
reference to a book written about his crime. Needless to say, he didn't get
paroled. He comes up again in the mid 90's. 

  Other recent trials covered live included the William Smith rape trial and
the Rodney King trials. 

  Currently they are covering two trials. One is the L.A. Riot trial in which
Damion Williams and Henry Watson stand convicted of attempted murder in the
beating of truck driver Regional Denny during the riot. The prosecution
contends that the two assailants shown on the tape are Williams and Watson. The
defense contends that it is a case of mistaken identity and that Williams and
Watson are not the men shown on the tape. 

  The 2nd trial is the Menendez murder trial in which Kyle and Eric Menendez,
two young men in their early 20's are accused of the shotgun murder of their
parents. The prosecution contends that they did it out of greed to collect a
$14 million inheritance. The defense claims that they shot their parents in
self defense because they feared for their lives after threatening to expose
their parents for years of child abuse. 

  If you like courts and trials, this is the station for you. The anchors and
pundits are very good at explaining things and you get to see far more trial
detail than you will see anywhere else short of taking the afternoon to sit in
an actual court room.

  George

I have grown to distrust what the media tells me so I find that Court TV allows
me to make up my own mind about a case.  Seeing all of the evidence and witnesses
gives you a 'jury' point of view.  I did watch the Deboer/Schmidt custody case 
and I also watched the Kennedy trial.

I do not like it when they cut into a trial with commentary at the frequency that
they do; its more than I like. I enjoy watching the parole board hearings and
find their daily synopsis at 10pm good at summing up the days events.

Judy

  Anyone catch the testimony of Kyle Menendez on Friday? He covered the actual
shooting of his parents including the events leading up to the shooting, the
shooting itself, and their actions after the fact. 

  He is an amazing witness and as one of the reporters pointed out, that kind
of testimony can lead to a hung jury. This could happen because he is very
strong at coming across as a sympathetic witness even though there are some
facts that could lead less emotional jurors to doubt his story. 

  Did he and his brother feel their parents would kill them or were they
more afraid of being cut out of the will and losing out on the $14 million
dollars? Will either of the two juries be able to agree one way or the
other?

  The testimony he gave Friday was riveting and had me on the edge of my seat.
Fictional trials pale by comparison, 

  George

  Baring any delays, it should be a big day on Court TV today. The defense team
for Lyle Menendez has completed questioning and the state is scheduled to begin
cross examination. 

  George

  The Menendez murder trial is at about it's 76'th day and nearing completion.
Action is covered daily on Court TV. 

  In August of 1989, Jose and Kitty Mendez were shot gunned to death in their
Beverly Hills home. In March of 1990 their two sons Lyle and Eric were arrested
and charged with the killing to which they now admit.

  The state, which is asking for the death penalty, claims they murdered their
parents out of greed to collect a $14 million inheritance while the defense
claims they shot their parents in self defense after years of physical, mental
and sexual abuse. They claim the parents were going to kill them to prevent
them from revealing that abuse. 

  The prosecution, which started last July, ended months ago and about 2 weeks
ago the defense rested. The prosecution then began a rebuttal case which is just
about complete. After a defense rebuttal closing arguments should begin. 

  To those who have been following the case, there is a list of interesting
real life characters. Lyle Mendez is being defended by a soft spoken woman
named Jill Lansing who is as convincing as a therapist on direct and is
relentless on details during cross. By contrast Eric Mendez is being defended
by Lesly Abramson, a very aggressive woman who is considered the states leading
defense attorney in death cases. A defense lawyer all her life who began her
career in the public defenders office, she has managed to save all 9 of her
previous defendants who were facing death from death row. 

  The trial has run the complete gamat of emotions and drama. Both of the
brothers are extremely charming and likable and some jurors were reported to be
crying during their testimony concerning their abuse. At the other extreme,
even the prosecution lawyers were laughing at their star witness, the
psychiatrist who turned the brothers in, when a tape was played with him
imitating Elvis on a phone call to his mistress. 

  Viewers who have been calling in to the program have been evenly split on
weather the brothers should be convicted or set free. If the jurors feel the
same way, there could well be a hung jury which means we'd go through the whole
thing all over again next spring. 

  Although the live portions tend to drag a bit, in general this makes for
great TV. The days events are often repackaged and summarized during prime
time with the anchor persons (mostly lawyers themselves) and various experts
analyzing the days events.

  The Mendez trial has dominated Court TV for the past 4 months however they
do show other trials. The William Smith trial was shown in it's entirety as
were the Rodney King beating trials and the L.A. Riot trials. They also showed
the trial of 4 football players in Lowell who were accused of raping and beating
a prostitute as well has many other trials. Other features include parole
hearings and legal news.

  George

  It appears that Court TV may cover the trial of Lorana Bobbit who has been
charged with the assault of her husband in the now infamous late night kitchen
knife attack. Court TV was not able to cover the rape trial of John Bobbit
because of restrictions placed on TV by the state of Virginia in those types of
trials but TV cameras will be allowed during this trial. 

  According to Jay Leno, Court TV has renewed the Menendez brothers for the
spring season. After 80 some odd days of trial, the two juries have now been
deliberating for about 16 days and pundits seem to agree that if either jury
comes back hung, there will be another trial.

  George

    CNN will also be covering the trial of Lorana Bobbit.
    
    

    There's something funny about Lorna Bobbitt's jury being "hung". Can't
    figure it out though.
    
    Anyway,I was going to ask if anybody thinks a "TV movie" will be made
    of this incident and I'm wondering just how the Network would get
    around the censors. Wouldn't this be in extremely poor taste. (he
    asked,knowing the answer)
    
    Ken
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

RE                     <<< Note 164.8 by CSC32::K_BOUCHARD >>>

>    Anyway,I was going to ask if anybody thinks a "TV movie" will be made
>    of this incident 

  You can take that to the bank. The only question is how many. Careful camera
angles and very expressive faces would handle any problems with TV censors. 

RE Hung Juries

  It now appears that Jay Leno was prophetic. Eric Menendez's jury is saying
that they are hung, and Lyle Menendez's jury has asked to have 500 pages of
testimony read back which pundits claim is a giant step backwards in the
deliberation process. 

  The L.A. County D.A. is claiming that there will be another trial and that it
will be fairly soon. The Court TV experts are split on weather or not he is
just positioning for a plea bargain. 

  George 

    Re Menendez bros:  the local radio newscasters here think there will be
    a plea bargain based on the fact that the brothers have been in prison
    for four years already.
    
    Re Bobbitt movie - it's already in the works, according to the same
    newscasters.  They're just waitin gfor the trial to end so they can
    write the ending.  These guys think Shannen Doherty was born to
    play Lorena Bobbitt.
    
    

  Leslie Abrams (Eric's lawyer) has already said they would take a plea of
manslaughter but the L.A. County D.A. has said that this is a murder case and
he wouldn't settle for anything less. In her interview Thursday on Court TV
Leslie said that in 4 years the prosecutor hasn't offered them anything. 
The D.A. has already said that he wants to start the next trial in 60 to
90 days.
    
  Court TV also has the Bobbit trial. Lorena has a thick Spanish accent and
comes across on the stand as a very timid vunerable individual that falls apart
easily. Might be a reach for Shannen Doherty. Has she played that type of part?

  George 

    Actually Shannen did play a timid vulnerable teenager who fell apart
    easily in "Heathers" though that was more of a farce than anything
    else.  I don't know whether she can do accents; she's always sounded
    like a California girl to me.
    
    Ginny

    A TV movie about the Bobbitt thing would be in the worst possible
    taste. (that means the networks will jump at it!) Hope they don't screw
    it up by having Oscar-Meyer sponsor it or something like that.
    
    Ken

  According to Court TV, the Lyle Menendez jury has informed the judge that
they are hung and unable to reach a verdict. The Eric Menendez jury announced
that they were unable to come to a verdict about a week before the earthquake
and his trial was declared a mistrial. 

  Judge Weinburg sent the jury back with a different set of jury forms to see
if they could agree on any of the individual charges but the chance of that
happening is slim. He also gave them 2 days off so they will resume work on
Friday. 

  The trial was moved to a small building because the court house is still
unsafe due to earthquake damage. Since there was no live feed out of the
building, Court TV had to record the proceedings then play them back later.
Lyle and his attorneys looked somewhat stoic in contrast to Eric and his lawyer
Leslie Abrams who at 1st were showing signs of happiness then turned to anger
over a new charge given by the judge. 

  Experts are saying that the D.A. should offer a plea now that two juries have
been unable to reach a verdict but the L.A. County D.A.'s office is saying they
will retry the case. Court TV will no doubt carry it live. 

  George 

  Court TV teamed up with NBC to run a special on the Menendez trial last night
on Dateline NBC. The program was anchored by Jane Pauly and Stone Phillips but
the Court TV reporters that had been covering the trial filled in most of the
material. 

  Since both juries were hung, both trials (Erick and Lyle Menendez) ended in a
mistrial. The L.A. Count D.A. still insists that he will retry the case but Pam
Bozanich, the prosecutor for Lyle Menendez, said on the program last night that
she would rather chew ground glass every day for a year than to go through this
trial again. 

  Court TV announced to the press that their covering the 2nd trial live was not
a sure thing since much of it would be a repeat and it takes so much time that
it precludes covering other trials. The 1st trial lasted about 7 months. 

  They also covered the guilty plea and press conference of Tayna Harding's
husband Jeff Gilooly last night. Yesterday was the 1st time that I saw any
mention of the Harding case on Court TV. The expert commentator described
Gilooly, his plea, and his deal to testify against Harding as a "rat and a
nice piece of cheese". 

  Jay Leno discussed the Harding case last night as well. He said that there is
a new bird in Oregon called the Gilooly bird, take it to court and it sings
like a canary. He also said that if Gilooly had put up a defense he would have
claimed to have been molested by the Menendez parents. 

  Leno admits to being a Court TV fan, or at least to using Court TV to obtain
some of his material. 

  George 

    What channel is Court TV on?  I love in Merrimack, NH and have
    Americable cable.  Is it CNN?
    
    Thanks in advance
    
    
    Faron

RE      <<< Note 164.16 by MKOTS3::DUCHARME "Assist, Protect and Defend" >>>

>    What channel is Court TV on?  I love in Merrimack, NH and have
>    Americable cable.  Is it CNN?
    
  Court TV is a channel. It's a separate cable channel like CNN or ESPN.

  If it's not listed in your area, call your cable company and ask them to
add it as an option.

  George

  One of the biggest new stories to hit TV lately in the United States is the
investigation and arrest of football super star O.J. Simpson for the murder of
his wife Nicole and Ronald Goldman. The car chase of O.J., and A.C. in the
white Bronco sent the ratings off the chart and was seen by almost as many
people as were watching the start of the Gulf War. 

  Court TV and several other cable stations carried the complete arrangement of
O.J. Simpson on Monday and will no doubt cover the compliance hearing scheduled
for today. The prosecution is believed to be deliberately leaking information
to sway public opinion against "The Juice" in what one Court TV reporter called
an "opening statement to the jury pool". 

  Meanwhile the defense is not exactly cooling it's heals. O.J.'s lawyer,
Robert Shapiro is assembling an all-star defense team including his former DWI
client F. Lee Bailey who is already involved in the case on a consultant basis.

  Because the trial is in California, all of the pretrial and trial activity
will be available to TV and Court TV will almost certainly carry the entire
thing both live and repeated on tape during prime time. 

  Court TV went from being an obscure cable station to being a major cable
supplier by providing complete coverage of other famous trials such as the
William Kennedy Smith rape trial and the Menendez murder trial. Since all of
their reporters are attorneys their coverage of trials tends to be the most
competent and complete. 

  If your cable company doesn't carry Court TV, now would be a good time to
contact them and tell them that they are almost certain to carry complete
coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial. 

  George