Possible Mitigation Argument: Media's Effect on Case

[Leila]

This case was the "perfect storm" of media exploitation...................

1. It began with the story that a child was missing in Orlando, Florida and the child's mother didn't report her daughter missing for 31 days. This grabbed the public's attention and they wanted to know more. What sort of mother doesn't report their child missing for 31 days?

This started a small campfire.................

2. The media was happy to oblige the public's curiosity and sought out more information, which left the public wanting more. The parents of the young mother, in an effort to defend their daughter made statements and engaged in bizarre behavior that stunned the public, wondering what they would do next. The defendant's attorney took every opportunity to do media appearances and give press conferences to further his career and in hope of becoming a celebrity attorney.

This threw a few gallons of gasoline on the campfire and it was now a bonfire.........................

3. This happened in the state of Florida, the only state with the Sunshine Law, in which documents released to the defense as discovery, were made available to the public. Knowing the public's insatiable desire for more information on this case, the media obtained the documents as soon as they were released and made them available to the public through their online websites. Thus, the public knew every detail of this case as it progressed.

This threw more gasoline on the bonfire and it was now a 3-alarm fire..........................

4. By the time this case goes to trial, each and every media outlet from local to national, wants a slice of the pie when it comes to the viewing public. There's ratings to be had!

This has literally poured even more gasoline on the 3-alarm fire and it's now a major conflagration!

 

[Leila]

I don't see how Baez nor Lyons can go on National TV a couple of times a month with their media blitzes and then dare to use the media as a mitigating factor.
Chances are, if they would just shut up, half the people in the nation who knows nothing of this case would continue to know nothing if they would just zip it..
JMHO

ITA! It was JB who successfully argued against a gag order in the beginning of this case, which set the stage for a media blitz. Note that the state, in almost 3 years, has never given a media interview or press conference.

I don't see how JB can use the media as part of mitigation, when it was he himself who invited the media's attention.

 

[okiedokietoo]

The Media got the information that they use in their broadcasts thanks to the Sunshine Law. The media wouldn't have any information, other than she was charged and now in jail awaiting trial, if the media didn't have access to the case evidence via the "Sunshine Law". If the Sunshine Law is the entity that legally handed the media case evidence that they can legally publish, the Defense needs to go after the Sunshine Law. This trial is not the venue for that so I think trying to make an argument about the media's effect on the case is a moot-esque catch-22.

 

[MAMABEAR]

So??? What does all this have to do with ICA?? Will it set her free? Keep her off death row?