Saturday, July 9

Dead Heads & Delays (3#) -

The judge in the Casey Anthony trial has ordered a delay in the release of jurors' names. Sue Carlton at the SP Times tells us that Judge Belvin Perry has designated a seven-day "cooling off period" before the release, as emotions seem to be running high in the immediate aftermath of the trial.

Click below the story to read the comment thread.

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The Head Found in His Garden:

Mrs Thomas was a devout Presbyterian and Kate Webster, her maid, was a drunkard. On March 22 1879, Mrs Thomas came home from church and the two had an argument...

Coroner Alison Thompson has determined that the head found in the London garden of David Attenborough last October once belonged to Julia Martha Thomas, who was a victim of murder.

:: Old Murder Mystery
uncovered at the Telegraph.

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An Old-Fashioned Gothic Novel:

The Devil Walks by Anne Fine.

Mal Peet in her review calls
it a "classic in its own right."

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Friday, July 8

Book Notes (6#) -

Several publishing houses are launching new Mystery imprints this year as Mystery became the top-selling genre in 2010, Alexandra Alter reports at the WSJ.

# A posthumous novel by JG Ballard. Millennium People is about a middle-class rebellion in a London subdivision. This is a well-written review by Alan Cheuse, who called it brilliant.

# Kim Christensen reviews Janet Reitman's Inside Scientology. There's a comment thread there, too.

# Talk about modern horror stories... Melissa Allison reviews The Red Market by Scott Carney which is about organ brokers, bone thieves, blood sales, and trafficking in body parts.

# B&N is featuring a group of five
new Mystery Pulp Fiction books.

# What about Robots working in a seedy section
of London? Try Tehelka's Sly Culture melange.

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Thursday, July 7

Crimes and Trials (5#) -

Casey Anthony,
Lindsay Hawker, and Tarpon Bend . . .

# Scott Bonn, a professor of criminology at Drew University, contends that the Casey Anthony trial was a case of overzealous prosecution in which the prosecution overcharged her.

Casey Anthony's parents have received death threats, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Lindsay Hawker, whose corpse was found in a bathtub full of sand, was a young woman from Coventry UK who was teaching English in Japan. Her killer is finally being brought to trial, according to Eliot Sefton at TFP. And there's a longer story at The Mail.

# SoFlo: The mansion in Tarpon Bend, a secluded, upscale area of Fort Lauderdale, stood empty for a number of years, but recently Ronald C. Vinci, an elderly millionaire from the West Coast and Catherine Pileggi, his female companion, moved into it. She is now being accused of murdering him.

Blogging Notes: I've been having trouble with my laptop lately, which may have been due to some recent software updates. I hope I've fixed it by trying System Restore, but the laptop is getting old. I've been putting off getting a new one. We'll see what happens. Rainy weather around here today.

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Wednesday, July 6

Orlando Verdict Fallout (4#) -

We had live coverage of the verdict . . .

from about 2:15 to 3pm. On the whole, we had maybe a bit more coverage of this trial than average, but not saturation coverage on Broadcast TV.

Eric Deggans comments on the Media coverage and practices with regard to the Casey Anthony Case, as well as other cases. Bravo, Eric!

And then, after the verdict, more here from Eric.

Eric is briefly interviewed by Tom Geoghegan from the BBC about the case. He explains that the case developed a niche following:

There are many Americans who are not that interested, despite the hype, says Eric Deggans of the St Petersburg Times in Florida, but for those that were engaged, the trial has had them transfixed.

Attorney Cheney Mason Criticizes Media, Lawyers.

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Sunday, July 3

Mez: The Blind Eye (3#) -

The Amanda Knox Trial is at the center of a very nasty conflict between the Mafia and the authorities in Perugia.

On June 20th, it was reported on Umbria24 that the Naples-based Mafia syndicate called the Camorra, which has been trying to make inroads in the Perugia drug trade, was interdicted by the Perugian authorities whilst they were trying to ship cocaine packed in ambulances into Perugia. Among those involved in the operation, was prosecutor Giuliano Mignini.

Drugs are no joke in Perugia. It was recently reported that Umbria has recorded deaths caused by drugs at five times the national average.

The Mafia has been frequently blocked by the police and legal system in Perugia. What they usually want is a Blind Eye to their activities, which they have not gotten in Perugia.

Consequently, the Mafia has repeated inserted itself in this case, at times, quite flamboyantly. They initially came in contact with this case, no doubt, because there were illegal drugs involved in it.

Since then, they have been trying to use it to discredit, undermine, and get rid of the current regime in Perugia. They want a more cooperative replacement, one that is willing to look the other way at their activities.

Although this is a matter of public record and reported in the press, it is not being reported in the United States where the news about this murder case and trial has been highly manipulated by American Media organizations at the expense of the truth, and the information has been censored, so that it never reaches the American Public.

:: ABC :: 'Radiant' Amanda Knox
Hopes to Be Home for Christmas.

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