When I first penned the “Discussing Jesse James Hollywood” series back in 2007, for the original launching of my Web site, there remained many questions regarding the whole Alpha Dog, Stolen Boy, Jesse James Hollywood affair that were either left unanswered, or the answers remained ambiguously out of focus. Many of those same queries, that others are still asking me about, created what I considered to be good Discussion Points from a social marketplace of ideas perspective, regarding the related life-and-death issues.
Discussion Points
1. Was it appropriate for a journalist to obtain the type of information Michael Mehas received directly from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office? Should it be legal for a journalist to possess and exploit confidential files such as the ones Michael received from law enforcement authorities?
2. Did Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen commit any ethical violations by providing so many confidential materials to the researcher? Should he have been prosecuted under California law for handing over this confidential information? If so, why?
3. Should prosecutors in general be allowed to use the press to help try their cases? Should defense attorneys?
4. Is it in a criminal defendant’s best interests for his defense attorney to try to get a jump on the spin game by utilizing the press in an effort to enhance his client’s image before the public? Could such a strategy backfire against his client’s chances at getting a fair trial? If so, how?
5. How far should prosecutors be allowed to go when zealously pursuing their defendants through the media? Should law enforcement agencies in general have stricter guidelines placed on them when it comes to providing their version of a particular case to the media before a jury has been given the opportunity to hear the admissible evidence of that particular case? What should those guidelines be?
6. Should a defendant’s rights be waived if he avoids arrest and takes flight? If so, what rights should he lose? Is it fair that Jesse James Hollywood should have to counter law enforcement’s version of events as spun through the media during the nearly five years of his disappearance?
7. Should a movie and/or book, that generated its own facts and handed down its own judgment as to a character based on a particular real-life defendant, be released before that defendant has had a chance to defend himself in a court of law?
8. Is it possible that the release of the book Stolen Boy and movie Alpha Dog could negatively influence a potential jury pool of Jesse Hollywood’s peers for his upcoming death penalty trial? Might he be denied his right to a fair trial as a result thereof? Should it matter?
9. Could prosecutor Ron Zonen’s failure to win a conviction against Michael Jackson have had any direct influence on his recusal from the Jesse James Hollywood case?
