| The CCA ruling is the biggest news in SOA v dwm in four months. In reality, it's the ONLY news story in the SOA v dwm in that time--since Judge Glenn Thompson awarded dwm a new trial and held his first one for naught...and failed to properly justify his decision under the law. The natural and appropriate bias for an appeals court in a petition for writ of mandamus is in favor of the judge, since judges are wisely given great latitude within the bounds of their "discretion." I think it's safe to say the State of Alabama, the prosecutors, the investigators, and the victims all feel Judge Glenn Thompson abused his discretion at various and sundry times--before, during, and after the trial. As it turns out, his clumsy, last-minute ruling did not pass muster with the appeals court. But the local press loved it. Judge Glenn Thompson got rousing editorials of support from both the Decatur Daily and the Huntsville Times. The Huntsville Times opined the State of Alabama should drop their petition altogether, because it was so OBVIOUS to them dwm hadn't gotten a fair trial. They didn't know anything about the ruling, the petition, or about the trial. That much is proven by the TRASH they had already printed. But they JUMPED to publicize the story, and JUMPED to reward Judge Glenn Thompson for his ill-conceived and poorly-executed "end run" around justice. So an AWARD FOR A KILLER got wall-to-wall front-line coverage in all five media outlets, and the two newspapers praised him and shamed the prosecutors for their alleged mishandling of their duties. Almost four months later, the Court of Criminal Appeals reached a decision, and it was something no one expected. On its face, it's very simple. But the inferences are clear--that the CCA was unable to decide whether Thompson's ruling was lawful, (or whether it was an abuse of his discretion) without getting further explanation from him. Because he hadn't provided it already. The same press corps that gleefully reported (and supported) Thompson's decision now has nothing to say about the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Why don't they write nasty editorials about the five Appellate Judges? After all, they've written the most vile things possible about everyone else that's opposed the ruling and Thompson's ENTIRE handling of the case--the victims, the investigators, and the prosecutors. Why doesn't the Huntsville Times explain how it was so CLEAR to them, when five serious, unbiased judges couldn't SEE it at all?? Why doesn't someone put Halbrooks on TV??? Does she really have NO COMMENT???? And why doesn't the Decatur Daily, the self-proclaimed DNA of JOURNALISTIC ETHICS...why don't they even COVER THE STORY????? Probably the same reason they never covered DA Bob Burrell recusing himself three years into the case... Probably the same reason they never covered the DNA evidence in a coherent fashion... Or the overwhelming evidence against dwm... the extraordinary bias shown by the Judge... the almost comical bunglings of the defense team... Or the reason they've never covered this website--which has received 34,000 hits to this point... It doesn't fit their sick, self-serving script. Consider what the Decatur Daily HAS covered in the past four months...like, for example, allegations of impropriety in Karen Tipton's "past sexual behavior." That was news, you see. They're probably hoping for a good tornado. |
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