Too Much Courtroom Detail For Me

I wonder if our justice system was formulated with the thought this type of criminal act could exist?

I’m not sure my point in writing this. I guess I just want to make sure I’m not alone. Has anyone else heard too many details in the Michael Jackson and Petit Family murder stories?

I was watching CNN two Saturday’s ago. Fredericka Whitfield (WTNH alumni) intro’ed a package on the Petit Family Cheshire home invasion. Because it was a national audience the reporter went into voluminous detail setting up the story.

I didn’t get much more than a minute into the retelling before I changed channels. I couldn’t take any more.

It is still difficult for me to comprehend the horrendously depraved acts that took place that day. I wonder if our justice system was formulated with the thought this type of criminal act could exist?

Two nights ago as I drove home listening to the World Service of the BBC (via Connecticut Public Radio) they presented a story on the Michael Jackson/Conrad Murray trial. I listened to a few seconds of Jackson’s slurred, drugged out voice before looking for some music.

This is what $150,000 per month buys? You get propofol and your physician gives up any claim to having a soul.

I found listening just too painful. It felt as if I was being asked to watch a ‘snuff film.’ No!

I’m a believer in cameras in the courtroom and a free and open press. That doesn’t mean I want to always see what’s going on.

24 thoughts on “Too Much Courtroom Detail For Me”

  1. Some would say: you have the option of switching channels or changing stations, which you did. However, does the public really thrive on all that? Is it human curiosity gone wild, or what? I am free to bury my head if I want. Some things are way too painful to listen to or watch.

  2. I find it so hard to really believe that two men could do such a horrible, horrible
    crime and have the ability to think that they would get away with it. I feel the
    pain of Dr. Petit everyday that he has to sit yet through another awful recount of
    what happened on that day, the day that changed his life forever. The day he lost
    everything, he I am sure has and will never recover from the loses of his family, nor
    will he ever be who he was before the crimes. To him everyday is the same day, and they I am sure are very lonely days. So, what I say about the media and the focus is
    that it’s probably important, it enables those who never think about this ever happening to them , to know that it can and it does. I feel it’s a way of educating all those who have that “carefree” never me attitude. So, tired not really, but
    always aware of my surroundings to be sure.

  3. Lately I have been watching less local news lest I see coverage of this story. I wonder how many other people have been tuning out rather than tuning in.

  4. I have to agree. It was a tragic awful event and I feel for the family; however there is is a limit to the amount of information we can handle and at what point does this desensitize us?

  5. I’m so glad to be able to “switch it off”. For Dr Petit and what’s left of his family that’s not an option. They have to live this every day. What a world we live in!

  6. I have the same feelings. Why do they have to use the same pictures of that monster over and over? (Petit story) I have done more channel changing during the news than ever before.

  7. I am beginning to think there is NO channel on radio or tv that does not have these two stories on constantly! Today in my local paper they actually showed 2 pictures of MJ, one the day before at dress rehearsal the other was captioned ” dead on stretcher at hospital” it was horrific. The media is out of control!

  8. I knew a family in Middletown, has to go back in the late 70’s.
    My family was very good friends with them,as we lived down the road. I will make this short, the husband of this family came home from work one evening and went into his bedroom with a shotgun, there, sleeping was his wife and daughter, who was 5. He shot them both.When the shots rang out, he woke his little son who was in the next room, he was 3. This little boy ran down the hallway(it was a raised ranch) and made it down the stairs to the front door, trying to open the door to get out. That is where his father shot him. This man then went to his kitchen, sat down at the table and shot himself. My mother is the one who found them all. So just what am I getting at here, well, I guess I am just trying to understand why this murder was never given the media attention that the Petit’s have. As I recall, it was two days tops, then never mentioned again. Is it because back then the media didn’t live for every horrible detail, or was it because they were just “regular folk”.
    What happened to the Petit family was terrible and these two men should be put to death, but I think we know that will never happen in Ct.

  9. It’s not just that some cases get the attention and others don’t, it’s also the preconceived notions of guilt and innocence. If Dr. Petit had been a drug dealer or even something as blue collar as a sanitation worker, the media would have automatically assumed that he was in on the crime. Because he was a respected doctor, he gets an automatic free pass, and no one even considers the possibility he could be involved. Note that I’m not saying he was, just that the media and perhaps the police should not automatically assume that he wasn’t. just because of who he is.

      1. You’re missing my point. If all the circumstances were the same except that instead of being a doctor, Petit was a petty criminal or even just someone who was poor, then fingers would be pointed. I’m saying that rich people are treated differently, that they seem to be automatically above suspicion. If we are to look at him as innocent, then we should look at anyone in the same circumstances as innocent, regardless of the size of their bank account, and you know as well as I do that it doesn’t work that way.

    1. This is what I am saying. The family I spoke of were just everyday people, well respected and very giving.For whatever reason that evening something went wrong, very wrong.

      I agree with you Suspicious, for the most part.
      However as you see,we can’t have opinions here without being lectured. You can also see what I wrote on the family, no one cared, not one “i’m sorry”, not one, “omg”.. That is what I would call despicable……………………………..

  10. OMG, I so agree with Geoff on this one and soooooo disagree with “suspicious mind,” and “Sara.”
    I would just like to add, if this even posts…that as much as I understand Komersarjavesky is entitled to be tried by a jury, and should be,It is such a waste of time! It doesn’t matter who did what to whom, which is his defense….One or the other was an accessory to this horrendous crime and committed an evil act, making them both evil people who should NEVER be allowed amongst society again!!!!
    As for your point, Geoff, I agree that there is way to much publicity and continues on an on with the same story. Very redundant in both cases!

    1. You would Jeanne,,,,,
      There are some of us here who are not afraid to voice an opinion and not agree always with the one who owns this page.
      I spoke of media attention or lack there of with both cases and agree that the two men who did this to the Petit family deserve the strongest sentence possible.

      Perhaps you might re-read what was written, before you soooooooooo disagree with what I said.
      I’ve had enough of both media and people with closed minds.

      1. OK – Here’s the deal. Everybody gets to express their opinion on my site, but I will not allow jousting between commenters. Make your points as points. Leave others out.

  11. I totally agree with you. If I catch the top of the news I am turning it off because I don’t want to hear the gory details. I feel terribly for the Petit/Hawke families. I wish the news channels would stop reporting on the trial. We don’t need to know any more than we unfortunately do.

  12. Our media doesn’t report on the airplanes that don’t crash. At the risk of being Pollyanna-ish,I still enjoy the everyday courtesies complete strangers show each other. There is a reason memories fade- so the past becomes the past. I hope the Petit’s family can find peace in their lives.

  13. It’s just like the violent video games our children are playing today, and the violent movies/TV shows on television and in the movie theaters… We become inured to the senseless violence of it and have become numb. Then we have something like the Petit occurence where we, the public, are subjected to the publicity of it not just once but twice – and it seems to me like the second time the media is pushing it for all they can get out of it to keep their ratings up. I don’t want to hear anymore, not because I don’t care, but because I’m numb from hearing too much.

    Yes, it’s absolutely horrid. Those two should have been shot on sight when they were caught emerging from the home. This farce of the two trials should not be happening. I’m ashamed that I feel less empathy for what is going on now than I do when I hear of other people’s hardships. But because of the constant barrage and bombardment, I’m just numb from it all.

    I think that’s symptomatic of a larger issue in our society today – too much violence around us in our every day lives. We see it in movies, television shows, read it in newspapers and magazines, hear about it on the news. Our children play games immersed in violence, and we let them. And when they become violent, we tell them they’re wrong – they should have known better.

    Who’s fault is it, really?

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