Tuesday, November 13, 2012

More on Nancy Grace's "re-investigation"

There is a transcript available for last Friday night's show.  Reviewing that transcript, I noticed Grace mentions her extensive coverage of the case.  I know that she was a daily guest and/or co-host on Larry King Live commenting on the show, but was shocked to see these claims by her:
GRACE: Being in that courtroom in Redwood City -- I was out in California for I don`t even know how long anymore, months, covering the trial. And I saw jurors come and go. That jury was like a revolving door. I watched everything that happened in the courtroom, every nuance, every move a juror or a witness or the defendant, Scott Peterson, or his lawyer would make.
What?  Nancy Grace was every day in the courtroom, saw every nuance, every move anyone made?  I attended the trial every day, except for the first 2 weeks or so of August when I was recovering from the stroke.  I didn't get into the courtroom every day, but I was there every day to get a lottery ticket hoping to get in.  Several of the other frequent attenders were avid Nancy Grace fans, and it was a very big deal the few days that she was there.  She was very amicable, friendly, talked to anyone that wished to talk, graciously mingling with the trial watchers.  In fact, I was surprised at how gracious a personality she is in person.  But she simply was not there every day.  And the trial was not televised.  What she saw every day was the media coverage, with a few days of personal attendance.

Grace talks about her experience when Sharon testified during the penalty phase.  Grace may well have been in the courtroom that day -- I don't remember.
GRACE: I was sitting in the very back of the courtroom. And I finally had taken off my backpack and set it on the pew and was sitting on top of it so I could see Sharon Rocha. And now I wish I hadn`t -- I hadn`t seen it because I will always remember her raw grief when she described those bones in the coffin of her child, Laci, holding her grandson in death. And that is how they were buried.
And then everyone just looked over at Scott Peterson, and he looked as if Sharon Rocha were talking about somebody he had never met. He had absolutely a blank expression on his face. I will never forget it as long as I live.
However, Grace is not much taller than I am.  And you could not be sitting on the back row, even sitting on a backpack, and see Scott Peterson's face.  Not even remotely possible.  The jurors of course could see him, as could Sharon as she testified.  The people sitting in the family rows on the DA/Rocha side of the courtroom, those sitting in the very first seats, would have been able to see a side-view.  But by the time you get to the public section on that side, you could not see his face -- and Grace was on the very back row of the courthouse.  And if she was sitting on the defense side of the courtroom, she couldn't have seen his face at all.

Grace's lack of honesty is quite alarming because a lot of people got much of the information they had on this case from Grace -- as they do about many other cases.  She appears to feel no obligation to accurately and objectively report the facts of the case.