Bizarre, Criminal law, Media

Fall From Grace: CNN’s Nancy Grace Denounces Dancing Devil After Anthony Verdict

While many were surprised by the verdict in the Casey Anthony case yesterday, some things remained both predictable and consistent like Nancy Grace’s reaction to any defendant prevailing in a criminal case. Grace’s choleric persona was in full rage that the jury would deign to find the evidence insufficient to convict the woman who Grace had already convicted many times on her show. “Now, I know it is our duty as American citizens to respect the jury system and I do, believe me I do. I’ve struck over one-hundred juries. But I know one thing: As the defense sits by and has their champagne toast after that not guilty verdict. Somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight.”

I have been a long critic (here and here) of Grace’s snarling, sensational approach to law and journalism — an embarrassment to both professions. Whether it is attacking the weather or pushing grieving mothers to suicide, Grace has been denounced as an unhinged bully who brought the same abusive tendencies from court to the camera. She is CNN’s Glenn Beck.

It was particularly interesting to hear her again cite her career as a prosecutor because she left that occupation while facing serious ethical charges for prosecutorial misconduct.

Grace last night however was almost speechless. Unfortunately, it did not last:

“The defense team is inside a bar having a champagne toast, right now. . . Now, you know what? I’m not a preacher and I’m not a rabbi, but there is something wrong with that ’cause Caylee is dead. And her body decomposed just fifteen houses away from where the Anthonys put their head on the pillow overnight. Everyday searching, searching for this little girl . . . “Now, I know it is our duty as American citizens to respect the jury system and I do, believe me I do. I’ve struck over one-hundred juries. But I know one thing: As the defense sits by and has their champagne toast after that not guilty verdict. Somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight.”

She insists that “Tot mom’s lies seems to have worked.” That is what CNN now offers for legal analysis.

What is strange is the reaction of the media. Over at CBS, Jodie Chen actually broke down in reading the verdict. The fact is that many of us said that the evidence was pretty weak and circumstantial in the case, though most expected a conviction. That a jury was able to overcome the high emotive aspects of the case (fanned by the prosecution and people like Grace) is a testament to their independence.

Jonathan Turley

82 thoughts on “Fall From Grace: CNN’s Nancy Grace Denounces Dancing Devil After Anthony Verdict”

  1. My opinion is that ya’ll should take a pill. Why was there such heightened interest in this case anyway? I feel for the victim, but could care less about all else. Some contributors to this thread should see what you are saying in such sanctimonious fashion. Sexist or race baiting comments Like:

    a woman being “shrill”? Didn’t the lefty supporters of Hillary complain about this moniker?

    Shrieking harpies?

    Slut?

    Ya’ll should be ashamed of yourselves (you nattering nabobs of negativism).

    And Professor — Beck a bully? Really? That’s one term I would not ascribe to him. Bullies have some muscle behind them. All Beck has is a lot of public opinion, like it or not. Bullies are not usually as self-effacing as he. I hope you are not intimidated by SCOTUS as much as you appear to be of Beck the Terrible.

  2. Casey Anthony trial turned into media frenzy
    By Lucas Shaw
    Reuters
    http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-trial-turned-media-frenzy-031041514.html

    Excerpt:
    NEW YORK (TheWrap) – Led by Headline News anchor Nancy Grace, the entire cable landscape — and now the broadcast news networks — seem to have gotten drunk on the Casey Anthony trial.

    A month ago, most Americans would have said: Casey who?

    Yet when a Florida jury announced on Tuesday that the young mother was not guilty of murdering her infant daughter, talk-show host Julie Chen cried on national television while CBS and ABC speed-raced to air hour-long nightly specials.

    “I’m amazed that it got so much attention that it’s been almost nonstop, especially on Headline News, but also on Fox and MSNBC and elsewhere,” said Al Tompkins, senior faculty member for the Poynter Institute’s broadcasting and online group. “This is not like a lot of other trials that have involved celebs or people that were famous, or somehow very high profile prior to the incident.

    This was just a person in a murder case like many, many, many other murders in the U.S.

    Why does this case get such coverage?

    Answer: Ratings, ratings, ratings.

    Grace’s single-minded pursuit of the truth about Caylee Anthony’s death put CNN’s Headline News (HLN) in second place during June, the 29-year-old channel’s best ratings month ever. And it also helped the network challenge Fox News in the coveted adults 25-54 demographic during primetime.

    Of course, the bigger cable news outlets noticed HLN’s ratings success. As the numbers looked better and better for HLN, MSNBC, Fox News and even CNN began devoting more and more of their air time to the trial.
    By the time Tuesday’s verdict was announced, it wasn’t just cable news channels covering the trial, but almost every major media outlet.
    There are myriad explanations why this trial became such a media circus.
    For one, there is the usually slow summer news cycle — with the Anthony Weiner scandal winding down in mid-June, the Casey Anthony trial was there to fill the void.

  3. eniobob:

    News Corp in glorious colour.

    (Does ANYONE teach critical thinking in the USofA anymore??)

  4. Public characters like Nancy, Rush, even Judge Judy make millions each year from their “public personas.” The same is also true of characters on the left. Each night Nancy gets the ratings and knows the louder her outcry, the higher the ratings. That’s the game, not the content of the outcry. She would oppose invasions in North Asia if that is what would give her ratings. What’s the difference between Jerry Springer and Nancy Grace again?

  6. It is shrieking harpies like Ms. Grace that make fair trials so much more difficult in the US. Both prosecution and defense attorneys have to sensationalize, selectively leek and even fabricate things in order to win the shrieking harpies to their side.

    Does Nancy even believe her own garbage or is she just playing the part in order to separate the rubes from some cash? Its an argument I am really tired of having to deal with – ‘stupid or evil?’

  7. Even I know that once someone is acquitted they are innocent. They cannot be retried.
    Bob,Esq.- you said all that needs to be said about Grace.

  9. Reminds me of the time Bush relied on Fox News Network and acted…(which time) and then apologized for his reactions….oh well….some learn some don’t….

  10. I have to be honest….I normally do not watch her…but yesterday…I had to…I could only take about 15 minutes before she was shut off…what good does she do, why did she get her own TV show after she lot her job as a Prosecutor amid ethical probes instigated by a judge? How many male lawyers would have spend time in jail for contempt if they had done the same…She is insane with a vengeance….the Next Gig she can work will be Television Evangelism….I am ashamed to say and afraid to admit…she’d have one hell of a following…but the only question to ask is WHY?

  11. I admit to paying little or no attention to this trial or the evidence presented. I had no rooting interest. I heard the media circus convicting her in the press as well as those who said the evidence was too weak to get a conviction on the chrges. So, the verdict is neither a surprise nor an affirmation of any pre-set opinion.

    I do, however, truly enjoy seeing Nancy Grace being shown for what she is. This reminds me of Geraldo Rivera’s overly promoted totally embarrassing and very nearly career ending stunt of opening the empty Capone vault. The difference is that Grace probably doesn’t have the good sense to be embarrassed. Perhaps CNN will be sufficiently red-faced to help point Ms Grace toward a new career.

  12. Didn’t she have some issues with Child Protective Services herself? Or was addicted to prescription drugs…..Or am I just reading sensational headlines…about someone else…..Oh, I am just being a writer/blawger expressing my opinions then…. that’s it….If I am incorrect and I do not think that I am…She has had these issues within her own family life….

  13. Dredd:

    I think it’s designed to find the truth while protecting the rights of the accused. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive so long as the jury is free to act according to its collective conscience..

  16. LIke the guests she picks to have on the show, Nancy loves the jury system as long as they see the cases her way. I ‘ve criticized her countless times for her over-the-top comments and hard right-wing views. She’s bombastic, caustic, and full of hyperbole, but her advocacy for victims, especially child victims, is understandable. I don’t like her contempt for the Rule of Law nor the dismissive way she handles contrary evidence but I do think there’s room for a strong voice for victims on the airways, even if it is sometimes a shrill one.

  17. The prosecution poo poo’d the testimony of the person who found the body, told authorities, but authorities were not interested at first.

    He said the head fell off and he changed the scene, including duct tape.

    The prosecutor said that witness didn’t move anything, he was just trying to impress his son.

    That hurt the prosecution’s assertion the the crime scene had not been tampered with.

  18. Thank you for that Mr. Moran! It is so apropos…

    The PBPost headline today says that SoFla Lawyers are shocked at this acquittal…do you think so? They also say that Ms. Anthony is free to pursue the tv show circuit….I’m thinkin the way this girl has been painted over the past few years means she will be in prison for the rest of her life and I hope someone has the good sense to give her some direction on protecting herself from the mad-dog crowds created by the creepy media circus….

  19. The USofA is in terminal decline, and not a moment too soon.

    Anyone else familiar with Roger Waters’ “Amused To Death”?

    “And then the alien anthropologists

    Admitted they were still perplexed

    But on eliminating every other reason

    For our sad demise

    They logged the only explanation left

    This species has amused itself to death

    No tears to cry no feelings left

    This species has amused itself to death”

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