Another BIG SCOOP from Sprocket
Me and Beth Karas
Late Breaking news from DarwinException
Having been more or less glued to my computer for the past fortnight waiting for the Spector Jury to come back with some kind of conclusion to their deliberations I managed to miss the events of yesterday afternoon in the courtroom in Los Angeles. I got the news of a mistrial like most people in the discovered world by reading it in my daily newspaper which hits my letterbox about 7am London Time.
How I came to miss the result I shall never know. I was keeping my eye on the Court Television regular programme via the Sling softwear attached to my youngest son’s cable in Ohio. I was refreshing, when I remembered to, CourtTV’s so called “live” video feed over the Internet (which is like playing pat ball with a jelly fish) and before going to bed I checked the headlines on Google News and there was nothing there.
There was nothing also on the Toledo Blade’s web side where I went in search of news about the Ohio State’s very able third string quarterback Antonio Henton who had had his collar felt (as we say over here) in a soliciting-a-prostitute sting. (Which goes to show where the police in Columbus Ohio think their priorities lie.) I don’t remember whether I took my usual bed time glance at the Drudge Report but, if I did, there was nothing there.
I was quite tired yesterday evening having been to the hospital with Carol earlier. I had decided to spend what was left of the day in getting together the illustrations and my previous writings about the Horrible Hogarth for my next extract from my coming Guide to Erotic Art in London’s National Gallery. This involved some tedious searching through more than a terabyte of hard disk and I kept dozing off to sleep – which does not say much for my previous writings on the subject. I had to break off to make some supper which was Chili Con Carne with rice. I started with the contents of a tin of Stagg brand “Dynamite Hot” Chili Con Carne and largely defused it with a can of Heinz Baked Beans, a can of Red Kidney Beans in Water, spoonfuls of Tomato Ragu and a slurp of Tomato Ketchup. I heated the resulting brown sludge to boiling point and stirred it with wooden spoon constantly for ten minutes. The result was edible, Carol and I thought. It was, however, still unbearably hot in places. So when they said “Dynamite” they were not exaggerating.
Thus it happened that - having more or less closely followed and commented on the twists and turns in Spector Trial - I miss the big one! This leaves me with two choices. I could pretend that I was there for it. By “there” I mean watching it unfold on my computer monitor from a distance of 5460 miles. Or I could say that I did not wish to comment on the outcome of the trial until I had the opportunity for mature reflection.
As regards the first option, I remember a story about a group of sports correspondents watching a very dull cricket match in which nothing was happening at all. Cricket as a spectator sport is, at best, like watching paint dry. These journalists all go off for a heavy lunch break to a pub down the road and get back fifteen minutes after the restart of play during which time four wickets have fallen. Notwithstanding that they had not been there, their newspapers were filled with graphic accounts of the after lunch drama. Blogging ethics do not permit me to avail myself of this first option.
As regards the second option, I had already called the result as a mistrial in an earlier posting. All I will say now (having been proved right, which is no big deal as it was almost certain that that was what was going to happen) is that I would think that – provided always that he has the money for another prolonged trial defence - it is highly unlikely that Phil will go for a plea bargain unless it requires pleading guilty to a very minor offence. Such as, for example, encompassing the employment of an illegal immigrant as a private hire car driver. Or washing his hands in the toilet. Or some such.
In the process of catching-up on yesterday’s developments I watched the video (here) of the latest update from CourtTV’s Beth Karas who, as everyone knows, is a very able and very lovely young woman. She is also, I would venture to suggest, in line for the title of World Champion Eyelash Batter. What brought this thought on is a passage in the latest Harry Potter book (the tape of which Carol and I were listening to in the car to and from the hospital). We had got to the bit where the stunningly beautiful Fleur Delacour is marrying Bill Weasley and, arriving at the wedding as a bridesmaid, her younger and equally beautiful sister Gabrielle aged 11 “bats her eyelashes” (as J.K.Rowling puts it) at the 17 year old Harry Potter - which does not go down well with Harry’s girlfriend Ginny.
I don’t know who Beth’s significant other is, but he should just see how Beth bats her eyelashes at this old guy in England.
Now to Sprocket’s Scoop. If you are interested in the phenomenon of blogging qua blogging you just have to look at her latest few postings which are here. They record her conversations with Juror Number Nine. This Juror argued strongly for a conviction and the moment his part in the trial was over and done with he is on the phone to Sprocket. Sprocket, in what may be a Mandy Rice Davis moment, says that he emailed her at the suggestion of a friend. This is how the posting begins:
Juror #9 found out about my blog from a friend of his who emailed the url to him, and told him that he needed to look at this blog. Juror #9 emailed me at my blog telling me that I got it wrong. Juror #3 was NOT the not guilty vote; it was Juror #1. He also included his phone number and told me to call him.
Etc, Etc.
I understand that the Royal Marines (see my Glossary of Art Terms) are thinking about putting out a statement to reassure anyone with a suspicious mind that they have no doubt whatsoever that the friend with the url never mentioned Sprocket, her blog, blogging, the internet, the trial or anything other than the result of the Appalachian State versus Michigan game with Juror Number Nine until ten minutes after the end of the trial.
Sprocket is over the moon with her scoop, as would be anyone. It is not the first time she has been ahead of the trial reporting game. See my posting of 9 August that I have not yet got round to transferring to the Spector category on this site.
Late Breaking News from DarwinException
I have taken advantage of the facility on Kim’s DarwinException blog to have her postings emailed to me as soon as they happen. As I was putting this one of mine to bed there came through an account by her of email/telephone conversations with two more of the jurors. (Here.) Like everything Kim writes, it is thoughtful and deep. Kim’s approach compared to Sprocket’s is very contrasting but, like broadsheet newspapers and red top tabloids, both have their place in the scheme of things.
Perhaps not wishing to attract the unsolicited attention of the Royal Marines, Kim’s jurors decided to remain anonymous. They were quick to get their two penn’orth in on her blog, however.
