America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
Not yet steadied from our Casey Anthony induced convulsions, we shall now collectively commence caring about Jacque Sue Waller.
I have human compassion and her family gets 100% of mine. I pray she turns up fine. But you know as well as I do that this story will appear in far more outlets than just my prayers.
America has a bizarre fixation with picking out 1 distressed pretty white woman at a time and caring about her with the raised passions of a NOW activist watching a woman getting her rear-end kicked by a man on the Lifetime channel.
It’s called “Missing White Woman Syndrome” and while technically not yet a recognized psychosis, it at least has its own Wikipedia page, so I guess that’s a start.
It probably dates back to the Black Dahlia case but has more recent personifications in Nicole Brown Simpson, Chandra Levy and Natalie Holloway.
The problem of course is there is just no TV fun in picking out a suspect and dutifully respecting his presumption of innocence. You can’t get high off it.
Instead we get, as has already begun with Waller, a concentrated dose of screeching instigators mainlined directly into our veins. I’m not talking about pharmaceutical strength Greta Van Susteren (we’ll get that). We’re going to binge again on the more deadly street-level strength Nancy Grace.
What these broadcast drugs do is destroy the presumption of innocence. They make it very hard to pick a jury. Worse yet, they terribly distort our system of justice in the minds of the populace. Most people go their entire lives never seeing a jury trial, but they watch thousands of hours of TV. The presumption of innocence is paramount in court but so inversely buried on talk TV that the viewing public seems to not even realize it exists, let alone respect its important place in our search for truth.
Already there are reports on television that Waller’s husband is a person of interest, which in law enforcement means next to nothing, while on television meaning “misogynistic typical man who is certainly guilty.” See, for instance, Congressman Gary Condit.
Most distressing is how wrong these legal ducklings posing as eagles on television can be. They caused the self-flagellation America put herself through by making us believe we all failed little Caylee Anthony by not convicting her mother. They caused it because they first riled people up like a mob chasing Frankenstein.
Let me break the Anthony case down for you: The prosecution had no idea how that little girl died. If you can’t prove how she died, you certainly can’t prove who killed her. Motive is not an element of any crime and never has to be proven, yet the prosecution put on case about nothing but motive (Casey wanted Caylee gone so she could party). The jury didn’t fall for emotion, instead insisting the burden of proof be met. Good for them.
See how short that explanation is? Yet it was lost in the tens of thousand of hours the screechers spent squawking about the case on TV. There are fears now that someone might harm or actually kill Casey Anthony, another by-product of Nancy Grace et. als. – a complete lack for respect for verdicts in American jurisprudence.
Why does Nancy Grace hate America?
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Apr '11
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
The Black Dahlia? Try Helen of Troy...
This is something that perplexed me back when they killed Princess Diana and trying to figure out why you would nearly have to understand the history of all human history. Thankfully people like Rene Girard were kind enough to do most of the leg work but you would not believe how far back this goes and why...
Oct '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
I've always wondered why there was such a focus on young, pretty, white woman, or even better, girls. I'm a guy who's against affirmative action and the racial paranoia and demagoguery that usually comes from the Left but I have to admit there is a plausible complaint here when it comes to how the media picks these victims.
Aug '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
You beat me to the punch. I'm really concerned with how much 24/7 news "punditry" has affected our criminal justice system. We've had historic accounts, and fictional accounts, of how the media has had a negative influence on justice, but those were all from eras with less ubiquitous media.
When I studied the Oresteia in school, one of the things we talked about was how important it was to abstract the crime away from a "perpetrator to victim" equation and into a breaking of the social contract. Justice for the victim isn't what a CJ system should be about, it should be about Justice for the community. It is there to prevent the fomentation of ire that can lead to blood feuds and blood debts which can destroy the social contract. An abstracted, and disinterested, system mitigates the passions and can more closely approximate a just outcome.
What these pundits do is to recreate the blood fever.
As for Helen...well she was the Queen of Sparta, so let's just imagine that chasing after her had some political and economic impact as well.
Nov '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
Don't get me started on Helen. She waltzes out of Troy on Menelaus' arm while Andromache gets to see her husband and son murdered before she's carried off as a concubine. Grrrrr.
/end threadjack
Excellent thread, Tommy. I was busy educating my children, and so I missed the Casey-Anthony-a-Thon until the verdict came down and all hell broke loose. I'm still astounded that ordinary folk (1) were so completely obsessed with this case and (2) are utterly convinced that they understand the law and this case better than the professionals who prosecuted it.
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
Good post, Tommy.
Jun '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
The mainstream media sure don't seem to care about Michelle Malkin's missing cousin...
Dec '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
The notion that a sympathetic victim may be out there somewhere alive and in jeopardy drives the fixation: we want to find Chandra Levy or Caylee Anthony or Lacey Peterson alive. If a person who we expect would be even more motivated to find the missing female alive instead behaves indifferently or even suspiciously, that infuriates us. And if the female turns up dead, dashing our hopes, we become even more enraged and we demand retribution and punishment of the killer.
There's nothing wrong with demanding punishment of a murderer and retribution for a murder: the thing that's wrong is when prosecutors become so muddled by public pressure that they fail to build a provable case against a real suspect, and instead assume that everybody knows that the person suspected by the public is guilty.
Failure to prosecute a murder case successfully is a failure of justice: it means a murderer (either the person charged and acquitted, or another person who is the real killer) walks free, able to kill again.
Mar '11
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
There is always some variation of this story on the TV news. It follows the rule "if it bleeds, it leads"; it combines sex and violence and the antics of the cops and the lawyers usually add comedy. Also, TV needs visuals and what could be better than an attractive young woman (or child).
One of the better characteristics of "journalists" is laziness and serving up this kind of infotainment is easier than working.
It subverts justice, not just because it's impossible to find jurors who have not been saturated with the TV coverage, but, given the time that usually elapses between the crime and the trial, it's probably difficult for witnesses to separate what they saw from what they saw on TV.
Jul '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
I see your point, and the media are despicable vultures (I too detest Nancy Grace), but I just can't bring myself to get very worked up about this issue. It's especially hard to begrudge the families who want to keep their loved one in the news just to hold out hope. Though I should note that your post is the first I have ever heard of Jacque Waller.
You might be surprised how many such women go missing every year that you never hear about. Do you remember in 2003 when Allison Sargent was a household name across America? You don't, because she never was. Her missing flyer was pinned to the bulletin board next to my seat in the squadroom when I was a rookie. She was never found. Not that anyone noticed or cared.
I'm not sure what the damage is to presumption of innocence here anyway. None of the suspects in the cases you cite were convicted. Condit was never even charged.
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
I didn't know the story. Tell me more.
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
Wylee Coyote: It's especially hard to begrudge the families who want to keep their loved one in the news just to hold out hope.
Do you remember in 2003 when Allison Sargent was a household name across America? You don't, because she never was. Her missing flyer was pinned to the bulletin board next to my seat in the squadroom when I was a rookie. She was never found.
I'm not sure what the damage is to presumption of innocence here anyway. None of the suspects in the cases you cite were convicted. Condit was never even charged.
All excellent points. Were my loved one missing I would probably want the media attention I'm complaining about. The catch 22 is that it may wreck the case as opposed to crack it.
Your point about Allison Sargent is why I say we pick out "1" white woman at a time and care for her intensly.
My only area of disagreement with you is on the damage. Condit wasn't charged but his life was ruined. Scott Peterson was convicted. The media caused the former. I'm not convinced they didn't cause the latter.
Jul '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
Tommy De Seno All excellent points. Were my loved one missing I would probably want the media attention I'm complaining about. The catch 22 is that it may wreck the case as opposed to crack it.
Condit wasn't charged but his life was ruined. Scott Peterson was convicted. The media caused the former. I'm not convinced they didn't cause the latter. · Jul 23 at 8:34am
That makes sense. Media pressure doesn't usually help police investigation.
It's true that Condit was widely, and wrongly, suspected in Levy's death. But when a politician's position is essentially, "Hey, I didn't kill that girl, I just had an extra-marital affair with her and hindered the investigation into her death," his career's pretty much toast anyway. Condit was certainly unlucky, but in the end he ruined his own life.
As for Peterson, there was a bit more circumstantial evidence in his case than Anthony's, and the guy could have written a book on how to look guilty. While looking guilty doesn't necessarily mean guilt, it's a bit much to expect a jury (or the public at large) to ignore it.
Aug '10
Re: America’s Latest Missing Pretty White Woman, and the Death of the Presumption of Innocence
The lesson here is that if you are abducted and murdered while bearing a passing resemblance to Whoopi Goldberg, your story will be cold before your corpse is.
Nancy Grace is a she-pimp of death. Like all pimps, she traffics in a certain type of girl.
Would that she would hack someone's phone and earn herself swift justice.