www.justiceforchandra.com

[rd]

well, I agree with all your points above, benn. Vince Flammini is a great source and I quote him heavily throughout the book from interviews on Geraldo and other shows. The thing about ending something abruptly based on being asked to meet the family I do not see as a great revelation. I think everyone understands that Condit wanted to keep his liasons a secret and told his girlfriends that. The only question is what length he would go to keep it a secret.

They did out Anne Marie and it might not have happened by news coverage, although Rita Cosby was digging into it and she probably would have reported it first if the Star hadn't. But clearly American Media paying for a story was as asset there.

The problem is we only have a clue what is reasonably true based on real reporting. There is so much information that only American Media prints that I have no way of knowing why only they printed this stuff. I refer to a couple of things they print in the book but question why real reporting was not done by them or others concerning it.

rd

[rd]

A comment I made to the NY Times forums:

An excellent commentary from Daniel Okrent on the need for followup journalism to investigate, analyze, and report on who or what was the source of anonymous leaks and whether in fact in hindsight it was a manipulation of media for propaganda, and if so, the results it had on public perception rightly or wrongly.

This applies to anyone's agenda. I would describe it as a call for more analysis following investigative journalism, not just shaping or resisting the message du jour and perpetually moving on.

I would also see this as a need to, if not necessarily outing the source in an egregious manipulation, disclosing the attempt to do so, successful or otherwise. We will be a much better informed public if Daniel's suggestions become part of the culture of reporting of anonymous leaks.

thanks,
Ralph Daugherty
author, Murder on a Horse Trail: The Disappearance of Chandra Levy

[propria]

>>> [I] question why real reporting was not done by them or others concerning it. <<<


political power.


nanci
_________________
the Truth has a name, and there is power in that Name!

[benn]

Politics had a lot to do with this investigation. The DC Police were calling everything rumors.

Linda Zamsky evidently was a rumor, and the DA did not ask her to testify before the Grand Jury. Or did the DA have other reasons?

The Otis Thomas story was a rumor, and they declared it to be false. ha

Also the DC Police kept saying that Condit's sexual activities had nothing to do with Chandra's disappearance. How would they know, without investigating more"

That is the reason Stanislaus County has to be involved in the investigation. That starts to keep everyone honest if more players are involved.

I will edit my message here. I sent a copy of Murder on a Horse Trail to Stanislaus County DA Brazelton. That is the same book I mentioned before, just one book. He won't receive it for about 10 days. Thay gave a shipping date of June 1. That would be maybe because of the holiday.

benn

[rd]

Here's an interesting article from Garth Stapley of the Modesto Bee. In it is a comparison of the way Scott Peterson amd Gary Condit acted and the nature of a circumstantial case. Good article.

rd

from www.modbee.com (fair use)

Prosecutors plan to play TV interviews they say are filled with defendant's lies
BY GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
May 31, 2004

Even if he doesn't testify, Scott Peterson's voice will be heard during his trial.

His recorded voice, that is -- taped by television crews a month after his pregnant wife vanished from their Modesto home at Christmastime 2002.

Prosecutors won the right in March to use Peterson's words against him in the trial, scheduled to start Tuesday, saying his myriad of lies help tell their version of events.

Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos of Los Angeles, had argued that his client's comments are irrelevant, but the judge agreed with prosecutors that the interviews could provide insight into Peterson's state of mind.

"In most (criminal) cases, the defendants haven't made a lot of statements like this," said James Hammer, a former San Francisco prosecutor. "It seems they (Peterson prosecutors) are going to make his lies a big part of their case."

The interviews are especially important, some legal experts say, because People v. Peterson appears to rely heavily on circumstantial evidence.

Authorities presented no murder weapon, no cause of death and no eyewitnesses at Peterson's fall preliminary hearing. They conceded in a February court document that "some parts of the people's case is circumstantial," and argued that his interviews could support their theory of how the slaying occurred.

Prosecutors hope to convince a jury that Peterson deserves a lethal injection for murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner.

America's most-watched murder suspect seemed to take a page out of former Rep. Gary Condit's public relations playbook: refuse to comment for several weeks, grant a disastrous interview on national television, then clam up again.

Peterson played poorly on TV

Condit, Modesto's congressman until two weeks after Laci Peterson went missing, never faced charges in the disappearance and death of former federal intern Chandra Levy of Modesto. Many blamed his failure to get re-elected on missteps with the media, including his "I'm not a perfect man" sit-down with TV's Connie Chung that drew a near-universal thumbs-down.

Peterson's chat with Diane Sawyer of ABC's "Good Morning America" generated similar reviews when it aired Jan. 28 and 29, 2003 -- a few days after his Fresno girlfriend Amber Frey outed their affair.

He granted three more interviews Jan. 29, with Sacramento TV reporter Gloria Gomez, and with Jodi Hernandez and Ted Rowlands, both of Bay Area stations.

Pundits railed on Peterson's refusal to answer several questions; he said police asked him not to discuss parts of their investigation. Commentators also raised eyebrows at his tears, noting that he made little effort to wipe them when talking with Hernandez, preferring to let them roll down his cheeks.

In the Gomez interview, Peterson periodically looked directly at the camera, as if addressing viewers, when asserting innocence.

And pundits had a field day with his confused verb tense while talking about his wife and child.

"She was amazing, she is amazing," he told Sawyer. Of his son, he said, "That was, it's so hard."

Geragos, a TV commentator at the time, repeatedly questioned whether any defense lawyer in his right mind would allow such interviews. He said: "If somebody wants to file on this guy (Peterson) for false statements or obstruction, they've got a perfect case. He's already locked himself into a couple of arguable misdemeanors, maybe -- quite possibly a felony violation."

At the time, Peterson was represented by Modesto attorney Kirk McAllister, who told a Bee reporter a few days before the interviews that he had ordered his client not to talk.

How many ways to call it a lie?

Prosecutors caused a stir in February when they filed a court brief in hopes of using Peterson's media comments in his trial, which was moved to San Mateo County because of pervasive publicity. In the brief, prosecutor Rick Distaso used variations of "lies" 20 times to describe Peterson's statements.

In a Redwood City courtroom the next day, Geragos hit the roof, charging that prosecutors intentionally wrote "totally false" statements "designed to get headlines." Since then, Judge Alfred Delucchi has reviewed briefs from both sides before making them public.

Distaso's brief accused Peterson of deception regarding his wife, marriage and affair. He also lied about various aspects of the case, including what time he left home the day his wife vanished, large items he concealed in his pickup truck, blood in his pickup and cement evidence in his warehouse, Distaso charged.

"Like watching a train wreck"

Not mentioned in the prosecution document were Peterson's comments regarding Marc Klaas, the father of murder victim Polly Klaas, and The Bee.

Peterson told a Bay Area TV crew that he had spoken with Klaas, but Klaas the next day denied it.

"I have never in my life spoken to Scott Peterson," Klaas told KTVU. "Where he comes off thinking he can make a statement like that in the public forum and get away with it, I don't know. … This guy is stacking lie upon lie. It's like watching a train wreck."

And Peterson told NBC 11 that The Bee printed a photograph of him holding a candle in a cup at a vigil for his missing wife, "but it's reported that's an alcoholic beverage." The truth: The Bee's report said nothing about alcohol.

"On their own, the statements are not important," said Ruth Jones, a former New York City prosecutor teaching at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. "If that's all (prosecutors) had, they would be pretty hard-pressed to even bring this case to trial.

"But they're very important when you're talking about a circumstantial-evidence case," Jones continued. "When you piece it all together, plus add Scott's lying about some facts, collectively it could show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

Three degrees of telling a lie Hammer said misstatements generally fall into three categories: mistakes, white lies and "really big lies." The last, if proven, can be harmful to a defendant, he said.

"Lies are evidence of consciousness of guilt," Hammer said. "Innocent people don't need to explain things away.

"If you can show a pattern of lies going right to the heart of the crime," he added, "then you can argue that he concocted a story to cover up his role in the murder."

Modesto defense attorney Ramon Magana, who has tried cases before Delucchi, noted that judges typically give jurors carefully crafted sets of instructions near the end of a case, before they deliberate. A template used in California courts reads:

"Sometimes a witness may say something that is not consistent with something else he said. If you decide that a witness has deliberately testified untruthfully about something important, you may choose not to believe anything that witness said. On the other hand, if you think the witness testified untruthfully about some things but told the truth about others, you may accept the part you think is true and ignore the rest."

Geragos may provide alternative interpretations of each of his client's disputed statements, Magana said.

"There is always an explanation," he said. "Whether it is reasonable and credible is another thing."

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at 578-2390 or gstapley@modbee.com.

[rd]

Some more discussion of the book at Websleuths.com:


Like you say, so many questions flooding back, still unanswered, and the excuses for not answering them bare for all to see after three years. That is what Murder on a Horse Trail does, tells the story and lays what we know and those unanswered questions on the line.

Agents and publishers told me that it would take more than a year to publish the book, if anyone would take it on. With Condit intimidating the police, the press, writers, and the publishing industry with his lawsuits, who would take this on? I self-published to get this information out now while it is relevant. It is libel suit proof. I can't be sued for asking questions, questions like that found in the posts above, unanswered questions about why we still have unanswered questions.

Murder on a Horse Trail has sold a few copies, thank you, but not very many people know about it. It's in the review stage that a publisher goes through to get copies of the book out to reviewers before it's published. I and some others have sent some copies to some people we think will be interested in commenting on it, but I don't know that any comment will make it into a news article or review. We'll have to wait and see.

It's not quite news, not scandalous enough to get attention from tabloids, but there's a human interest story here that people love, an unsolved crime, internet sleuthers not letting it go, pulling it together into a story that reporters don't have the time and space to do. I think people will love it when they start reading it and start asking questions, like you do here. Maybe it will get some more people interested in web sleuthing as well. I think it will.

rd

[benn]

Just my opinion, but I am working at it. lol
We sort of need a triangle here, so that there are people with different interests gathered together into at least three camps. Then there won't be so much to hide, and not so many ways to hide it.

In my letter at the Fresno Bee I said that I thought the crime would have been solved by now if Stanislaus County law enforcement had of been involved in the investigation. Stanislaus County law enforcement could have interviewed Otis Thomas and Jennifer Thomas very easily.

When I write my gift letter to DA Brazelton I will say something similar again. I have emailed him at least once in the past few months. No answers.

The more copies of Murder on a Horse Trail that are circulated the more opportunities there will be for individuals to get involved, by writing or phoning someone.

This will probably all take a little patience.

benn

[propria]

>>> I sent a copy of Murder on a Horse Trail to Stanislaus County DA Brazelton. <<<


wtg, benn ... i have contact information for brazelton, so i'll give him a call around the first of july. by that time, he should have received the book and had a chance to look at it, at least ... i figure it can't hurt to call his office and let him know that there really are people out here who are still seeking justice for chandra.


nanci
_________________
the Truth has a name, and there is power in that Name!

[benn]

That sounds good nanci. Brazelton will probably receive the book by June 10, or sooner. I put a short note in with the book (sent by Amazon.com) but they only allow 170 words, no more.

I will send a short email to him, but I don't want to say too much. I do think that the case might be solved if Stanislaus County, and maybe the rest of California, could do some of the investigating.

It doesn't make sense, the victim came from the Modesto area, Condit lived in that area and had staff members in that area. It just doesn't make sense to not have local law enforcement participating.

benn

[rd]

A post I made at Writers.net about the book:


I just joined WN and there's 5,000 posts here in this forum I haven't read, but I can comment on my current experience. If I had the money, I would have gone the route of printing up a batch of books and signed up with some type of book producer that could handle distribution to bookstores with billing and returns. I'm unemployed and that wasn't an option. (Neither will keeping my house much longer, but things in my day profession of programming are picking up a little around here so maybe. :)

I felt it was more important for my book (Murder on a Horse Trail: The Disappearance of Chandra Levy) to come out in some manner now due to timeliness of the issues, but still I managed to get a hold of an editor at a major trade publisher who said he wanted to take a look at it.

Two months later he hadn't got to it, and even if he had, it would take a year and that's just not acceptable. I have to think there are many books on current affairs that are outdated by the time a publisher gets through grinding it down an assembly line.

I read a review this weekend in NY Times I believe that starts out criticizing a book on the Iraq War as already being outdated. Well, what do you expect? They're part of the problem, demanding a book galley three months in advance of publishing just to review it. Do you think it's hard to find qualified reviewers?

The whole industry is geared up for something from the past, some kind of time not far removed from Gutenberg that no longer exists, as if the internet or computers had never been invented. Taking a year to publish a book seems to me to cry out for more publishers who operate at modern speeds. The editor I talked to was sitting there with stacks of manuscripts that I don't know when he would ever get to.

So I pulled the trigger. I got it out there, I got it out there when it can make a differnce to people, and I don't really care what people who take a year or more to publish a book think. Their way of doing things is worthless to me.

I chose iUniverse because they have a program of sell through to their parent Barnes & Noble if the book sells well enough, but mine hasn't sold well enough or been selected for co-marketing help to be stocked on shelves. That's ok, that was at least a channel that could get books onto shelves via the POD route, and of course I agree it must prove itself online before stores consider ordering it.

Business wise, I think some of the costs above are not really due to self publishing, they are an option for any writer. The actual set up cost for publishing was about $600, and I had full control of the way the book, cover, and marketing content were printed. There are no additional costs for orders to be filled online. LightingSource prints them, and their are close relationships with Ingram and Amazon. I am pleased at how that has worked out.

Of course there is a tradeoff. The tradeoff of speed to market at little cost is lack of distribution to bookstores. They require to be able to be billed after 90 days and to be able to return the books for refunds.

I read this weekend that bookstores are 32% of sales. It seems to me it would higher than that, I don't recall the source but it might be using some kind of biased figures, but clearly getting abook out there for people to pick up and judge is critical. I'm trying to figure out how to make that happen, but whether it happens or not, it is on sale online in the meantime instead of in a stack of unread manuscripts somewhere. I don't want to call myself published when real writers went through what they do to get published, but it does no good for me to write something for today if publishers aren't interested until next year or never.

rd

[englishleigh]

Hi, I'm new here, but I used to post on the "Where's Chandra" board. I think my handle then was LeighS. I'm excited to find this board. RD, congrats on your book!! I hope to read it soon.[/b]
_________________
---Leigh

[rd]

It's great to have one of the veterans back, Leigh. You were one of the best. I'm impatiently waiting for some discussion of the questions the book raises with some soon to be readers like yourself. Welcome!

rd

[englishleigh]

Thanks, RD...I was never even close to being the caliber of sleuths you and the others were/are, but I enjoyed reading your ideas and conclusions and jumping in where I could. It's so great to see so many of the old names here...Propria, Benn, Laskipper, etc...I'm gratified to see that so many of us still want justice for Chandra!!
_________________
---Leigh

[benn]

Hello leigh, welcome aboard, I don't remember your name, but you probably don't remember mine either. I don't know if I should bring this up here, but with the Scott Peterson trial underway now, and not too far from me, I found that KGO news has a discussion board for news events now. Here is their link:

http://boards.go.com/cgi/KGO/re

I posted there today about the news story telling of Enron defrauding electrical users in California.

There might be some opportunities at that link to spread our news about the Chandra case, or Murder on a Horse Trail, about the Scott Peterson case, or other cases we are discussing here.

benn

[rd]

A beautiful post, benn, on azcentral.com:

Author:
Date: 05-19-04 20:59

This seems like a good place to post a message. I am posting here about missing persons, and I would like to plug a book about one missing person and murder case: Murder on a Horse Trail: The Disappearance of Chandra Levy, published by iUniverse.com.

The book can be found at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, iUniverse.com, and other book companies. Until I started looking at this case I did not realize how many people disappear each year, or each month, each week. Our troops are being killed in Iraq, and that is not good at all, but many people in the U.S. are also being murdered, not by a foreign enemy, but possibly by a fellow citizen.

I post messages at a website dedicated to finding justice for Chandra Levy, and all other missing persons. We can not bring the dead back to life, but we can keep them in remembrance, we can try to find the truth of what happened to them, and we can try to prevent other people from becoming missing person victims.

Amen.