SteveSilver.net

Right now, I'm about sick of the hostage woman. She might as well hire a publicist.

I'm also sick of the "woman guard" controversy. There is no guarantee that a man wouldn't have gotten his ass kicked just as bad by Nichols.

If there's a faulty procedure here, its that there weren't two or three guards watching someone accused of a violent crime who tried to smuggle a weapon into court a few days earlier.

Joe Scarborough is a dick and unless he is on a panel with other people, he isn't worth listening to...also I am surprsied MSNBC let him cover a story that much when that is what Dan Abrams is for :D

i imagine in ATL Georgia they are very sensitive, at least on an official basis, to racism. (Kinda like modern day Germany is, on an official basis, very sensitive to Nazism.) That said, the whole thing about "prejudicing" the jury has nothing to do with race - it simply means that there should be nothin to sway the jury's opinion of the defendant before the facts are presented at trial. This is a case of the rules of criminal procedure taken too far. True, the jury is not supposed to be prejudiced by seeing the defendant enter the courtroom in handcuffs and/or shackles. But there are other ways to handle it. In Philadelphia, at least, defendants are brought into the courtroom handcuffed, by at least 2 sheriffs, then uncuffed after being seated at counsel's table. By that time it's simply a lot less likely that there will be any incidents like in Atlanta. That said, when stuff does happen, Philly does it up right. Once, a defendant broke free from counsel's table and attempted to attack the judge (who, btw, had taught a trial practice course I had been in only weeks prior). The judge escaped to his chambers and the sheriffs shot and killed the crazed defendant.

I'm a bit sick of the woman guard thing, too.

Er ... sure, he overpowered the woman guard.

But then ... er ... he surrendered because of a woman.

So ... I don't know. Seems a bit like a made-up controversy.