Juror 5 Decision

June 21, 2004

Another case of the media turning an innocent exchange into a deed worthy of a mistrial. The hype over Juror 5 talking to Brent Rocha at the security point is an icon for the way the media has distorted so many things related to this case -- the smile at the vigil, the sale of the Land Rover, the dyed hair. The sermon Geragos dished out surely fell on deaf ears, and probably only turned the guilty ones more against Scott and more determined to use innuendo and rumor to get the guilty verdict. We do have some excellent reporters that do a decent, fair job of reporting facts as they receive them, but the members of the media don't seem to want to put pressure on each other to live up to higher standards. Of course, we the public bear much of the blame, too, because we buy and trade what the media feeds up. Maybe it's time we set our own standards a bit higher.

And I've wondered if Brent Rocha has considered that maybe some of the things Scott did that have been hyped into such incriminating acts by the LE and the media were just as innocent as what Brent did with Juror 5.