Category: “News” and Entertainment

Is “LivePD” really live?

I managed to get my hands on a copy of the LivePD production contract. I didn’t like LivePD before. I still don’t.

Is it Live?

If by “live” you mean it’s shot as it’s happening and beamed directly to your television where, Funyons and beverage in hand, you watch things unfold in real time the answer is “no.” At a minimum the “live” segments are delayed 10 minutes and they may even be delayed up to a half hour.

But is it live?

If by “live” you mean that it’s shot in real time, straight to final product, without any editorial input and beamed in raw form to your television where, kitten on lap and stew-on-the-stove, you quietly take in your favorite show the answer is still “no.” LivePD allows police departments to have a representative in the control room. That representative has the opportunity to weigh in on what is and is not shown for a host of reasons (including, my favorite, “privacy”) and possibly kill segments entirely.

To make matters worse the “earlier” or “previously filmed” segments are sent to the police department for approval days before they air.

Ok. But is it live?

If by “live” you mean unscripted, off-the-cuff, police work in its daily form from the mean streets of Lake County to you in you, feet-on-the-coffee-table and Twizzlers in had, the answer is still no. LivePD focuses on “key characters” who, not-so-conveniently, are often pulled off of mundane matters to drive the camera crew miles away to other calls in order to give the appearance of “constant action.”

LivePD isn’t live. At best it’s “almost live.” LivePD isn’t unedited. It’s edited to give “the appearance of” being unedited and give you “the feeling” that it’s contemporaneous police work coming to you in real time.

If you’re wondering why I put some of the above in quotes, it’s because that language is straight out of the LivePD contract. I didn’t make up the lies, they did.

LivePD is little more than a one-sided public relations tool for the people the Bill of Rights was designed to protect us from. And here’s another video of Defense Lawyers watching that nonsense and responding in real time.

PS- If you’re wondering what departments get paid to be on LivePD, Lake County, Illinois received $2,500 per week.

Taking a knee.

According to twitter today El Presidente is trying to pressure NFL owners to prevent their players from “taking a knee” during the anthem. NFL commissioner Roger Goddell has penned a letter to NFL owners telling them the players should stand.

I’m sure it’s just an odd coincidence those two things happened within hours of each other. Sometimes things fall out of the sky like that.

Just like the coincidences I see in court. Like, the one where all the clients I’ve ever represented who got pulled over for minor traffic offenses but ended up laying on the deck with tazer electrodes stuck in their skin were African American.

Just an odd coincidence as well. I’m sure that, in the tens of thousands of cases I’ve touched, if a white guy ever stayed on the cell phone after Continue reading “Taking a knee.”

Before We Kill Dylann Roof Let’s At Least Pretend To Give Him A Fair Process.

I don’t want Dylann Roof to die. I know that if anybody in the country right now deserves to die, it’s probably Dylann Roof.

However, killing him is putting a seal-of-approval on the legal journey that led him to death row. From the police investigation, to the pretrial motions, trial and death sentencing hearing, we shouldn’t give ourselves the power to kill people if they haven’t had the benefit of an accurate and precise system at every step of the way. Continue reading “Before We Kill Dylann Roof Let’s At Least Pretend To Give Him A Fair Process.”

Saying Nice Things (about Dylann Roof).

It might not have been the first day I started at the Public Defender’s office, but it certainly wasn’t long after.  I knew nothing about the day-to-day operations of a criminal defense attorney (law schools don’t teach such things). I was about to be turned loose into the confusing, complicated, chaotic world of juvenile delinquency court and my new boss was trying to boil my role down to terms my inexperienced self could easily grasp.

“Sometimes,” he said, “your job is to be the only person in that courtroom willing to say something nice about a kid.”

Continue reading “Saying Nice Things (about Dylann Roof).”

Making a Murderer: Did Steven Avery Actually Do It?

“What do you think about Making a Murderer?”  By the end of December I had to answer that question several times a week.  The answer was, of course, “I don’t know.”  I hadn’t really planned to watch another criminal trial documentary.

I don’t own the remote, though. I bought the remote. Paid for it with my own money, even.  I don’t get to touch it in any substantive way other than passing it over to The Boss, though.

Now I’ve seen the whole series. People are still asking me what I think about it. I still don’t know if he is “really innocent” or guilty.  I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Continue reading “Making a Murderer: Did Steven Avery Actually Do It?”