Trials and tribulations of news

STEVE SMITH

2005 will be remembered as the year of trials. Already this year,

we’ve had trials or resolutions from celebrity cases that have

eclipsed many more important subjects.

That is not a dismissal of murder charges or an attempt to

minimized its importance, but when compared to national or global

events, it’s hard for some to keep a perspective.

The easiest examples that come to mind are the trials and results

of the cases of Martha Stewart, Michael Jackson and Robert Blake.

These trials have eclipsed, for example, the soaring gasoline

prices we are experiencing in our area. The bottom line for

Newport-Mesans is that if you commute to work, you are taking a

significant pay cut, with more to come. Some jobs may be lost as

costs rise for some businesses, but I also believe that new ones will

be created as we search for creative ways to overcome the price

challenges.

If there’s any consolation in the rising prices, it’s only that

they are paying more than twice as much in England as we are.

I have had the interesting perspective of being out of town during

the deliberations in the trial of the “Haidl 3.” While the trial

consumed Orange County, and particularly Newport Beach, it was not on

the radar of the residents of Las Vegas, where I was when the

verdicts were announced.

Growth management is the No. 1 issue in Las Vegas.

But we’re not Las Vegas. The “Haidl 3” trial was a big issue here,

and there were many people who were waiting many months for last

Wednesday’s verdict. Specifically, there were many of us who were

waiting for last Wednesday’s convictions. No longer do we have to use

the words “alleged” or “purported” when reporting or commenting on

the crimes.

Being out of town has allowed me the luxury of wondering why the

“Haidl 3” trial was so captivating in the first place.

One reason, I believe, is that many of us believed the early

descriptions of victim Jane Doe’s behavior as described in testimony;

that is, that she was essentially a rag doll, to whom the three boys

could do whatever they wanted.

With that perspective, we wondered what there was to deliberate.

But this is America, and everyone gets a trial. Even Jane Doe got

to be put on trial instead of the boys, a predictable strategy

employed by the defense in both trials.

The movie of the crimes proved to be more reliable than the

indisputable DNA evidence in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. As I

recall, that DNA evidence showed that the only other person who could

have spilled that blood evidence had not yet been born.

Seeing is believing.

The other attraction of this trial was sex. Sex sells, and the

media jumped all over this one. Not only was there sex in this trial,

there was sick sex, practiced by minors.

I’m no prude, and I know that minors have sex, but it’s a lot

different when it’s shoved in your face and when the defendants are

dressed up to look like altar boys.

That’s the other part of this that is so hard to handle. Greg

Haidl came from a family with money, the kind of money that is

supposed to make life better.

In the end, all that the money was good for was paying legal fees.

The “Haidl 3” have not only shamed their families; they have

shamed the community of Newport Beach as well. Thanks to Dennis

Rodman, the television show “The OC” and a general reputation as a

haven for the rich and lazy, we don’t need that kind of attention to

our image, thank you very much.

So the lessons to be learned here is that money does not always

buy happiness, that boys will not always be boys -- sometimes they

are sick human beings -- and that if you ever get accused of the

crimes of the “Haidl 3,” make sure your attorney requests a change of

venue to Sin City, because as you know, what happens in Vegas, stays

in Vegas.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to onthetown [email protected].