Ick

So, about this guy ... there has been a whole hell of a fuss about him all over the media over the last little while. Frankly, the very sight of the guy creeps me out - he's like a walking stereotype, you could just put his picture up and people would automatically think he's some kind of serial killer or pervet. I really can't fault the people who have been running him off every time the guy moves - I mean, really, even without kids of my own I wouldn't want him living any where near me. Yick. HOWEVER ...

While I think that the Judge in this case has stuffed up badly - as we discovered with Carl Williams in Melbourne, it is in fact possible to get a fair trial, despite negative publicity and the fact that I really do think most people are morons - what he should have done was set the matter down for trial some time down the road - a year, two years, whatever - and slapped a whole bunch of suppression orders on the media. That way the public would have had plenty of time to forget about all the fuss about him before the matter came back to trial.

Also, while I have no doubt it's been said plenty of times - media, if you want to bitch about this case, how about not exacerbating the situation? The Judge canned the case because of publicity; so in what universe do you think that having hysterics and splashing him all over the papers and the nightly news is going to help when it comes to the hearing of the appeal? Huh? Idiots.