We don’t much cover criminal cases here, on the thought that not many of them say much about the larger scene – just the sad, unfortunate or sometimes bad behavior or incidents in specific cases. But a personal note in the fine blog run by Betsy Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review points out the impact they can have.
She has been covering the Joseph Duncan trial in Boise; the Duncan case, which has been very big news in Idaho and the Spokane area, involves a truly horrific swath of murder, kidnapping, torture, rape and more, is well set up for generation of nightmares. She makes the case for thorough coverage, but also notes this.
Share on FacebookOn Friday night, after three days of intense immersion in the blood-drenched reality of the Joseph Duncan case, I came home from the courthouse only to find blood smeared all over my bathroom floor. I couldn’t help it; I screamed. It turned out the cat had killed a mouse in there; my husband kindly cleaned up the mess while I freaked. Then, last night, I awoke at 2:30 a.m. to a strange noise on the back patio, followed by the sound of our back patio door softly sliding open, then back shut. I froze. Lying petrified in bed, my first, half-asleep, panicked thought was that someone had come for our kids.
Of course, that wasn’t the case. My teenage daughter, who was leaving for college in the morning, was still up, and had gone out back to spray-paint a shelf she’s taking for her dorm room. The strange noise was her shaking the spray-paint can.
