I’ve received several emails from a concerned woman out there by the name of Diane Seltzer. She is fighting for a worthwhile cause – media bias – particularly as it relates to a young man by the name of Paul Vincent Cortez. I can totally relate to this issue because I felt it so prevalent with the Jesse James Hollywood case, which is what caused me to get involved in that case as a witness.
A search of the Internet reveals many victim-related sites that follow the police and prosecution theory of the case, that Mr. Cortez did in fact murder his beautiful girlfriend. However, Ms. Seltzer contends that Mr. Cortez was also a victim, that he was wrongfully convicted for this murder, that the police did a shoddy job in their murder investigation, and the media was biased in its reporting. This is such an important subject, with so many innocents out there having been wrongfully convicted, and their lives being swept under the rug of the highly profitable prison industry, that I’ve agreed to post Ms. Seltzer’s thoughts. After you read her words below, let us know what you think:
Media bias is pervasive in our daily lives. The First Amendment assures freedom of the press and allows all opinions to be expressed. Historically, various perspectives were viewed as thought provoking and a source of stimulation for ideas or actions. However, a new type of journalistic attitude has taken hold of much of the media. Ideas become fact, and these “facts” are manipulated to produce a more scandalous version of the truth and spun into sensationalized stories to boost sales. There are serious topics and issues being misrepresented by this tabloid media with little concern for accountability or consequence for the “public lynchings” they orchestrate. One consequence can be the undermining and ultimate loss of a citizen’s civil rights. American law states a citizen is to be innocent till proven guilty in a fair court of law. However, you can be tried and convicted by the media with no chance to prove otherwise unless you have incredible resources. Even then, it can rob a person of years of freedom before the truth is allowed to be proven. There is such a situation in New York that a group of concerned citizens became aware of and couldn’t ignore. We feel this is an attack on the rights of all citizens. The media took a story and sold their product, the truth be damned, and helped to wrongfully convict a very talented young man named Paul Vincent Cortez.
Paul grew up in a tough neighborhood in the Bronx New York but focused intensely on academic, athletic and theatre interests in hopes of fulfilling a dream to create a better life for himself and his family. He earned academic scholarships to the prestigious Buckley School, Poly Prep Country Day School, and Boston University. During his school years, he accumulated an impressive resume of achievements. After becoming the first family member to graduate from college, he was an aspiring Broadway actor and lead singer in a popular New York City band and supported himself by working as a trainer at Equinox Gym in Manhattan.
On November 27, 2005, Paul endured the most unthinkable devastation. A person he loved was found murdered on the floor of her Upper East Side apartment. Paul voluntarily spoke to the police in hopes of providing them with information that might help find the murderer. During six hours of intense interrogation, Paul volunteered his foot prints, allowed the police to photograph his hands and body (which revealed no cuts or wounds), provided his cell phone for inspection (no blood stains), volunteered his DNA, and allowed the police to search his apartment without any sort of warrant in order to eliminate himself from the list of suspects hoping they could concentrate their efforts on finding her killer. There was no reason or evidence to believe that Paul had committed this crime. The first three weeks of the investigation did not yield any relevant witnesses, DNA, surveillance videos or any other illuminating evidence.
With the media hungry to announce a killer on the loose in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world, the police were under incredible scrutiny to produce immediate answers and make an arrest. In addition, this made-for-Hollywood scenario featured a fast-rising Manhattan District Attorney looking to capitalize on the high-profile nature of the murder frenzy. The investigation and forensic testing was limited. Apparently, informing the media that the investigation lacked any significant breakthroughs was not a viable option.
Instead, much of the personal information that Paul volunteered to the police during his questioning was somehow leaked to the media by unnamed or “anonymous police sources”. Fabricated stories were printed from these leaks that created an erroneous image of Paul Cortez as a twisted madman. Paul was tried and convicted by the media for this crime before his trial. His trial was a farce with little defense by his inept lawyers. Paul found out the hard way that innocence and the truth is not one’s guarantee for freedom and is now rotting away in an 8 X 10 foot cell on a wrongful conviction.
We believe that all citizens of the United States have the right to a fair trial with competent counsel. We believe that Paul Cortez was denied a fair trial because of inept counsel, media bias influence on the jury, inadequate investigation, and inexplicable lack of forensic testing. We believe that Paul Cortez was denied his basic civil rights and was unfairly convicted by a bias media rather than a fair court of law. Accordingly, we have formed a Defense Fund ( FREEPAULCORTEZ.ORG) to attempt to have Paul Cortez’s case be reopened and reviewed by the State of New York through the grant of a new trial. We hope that all fair minded people will feel compelled to join this fight for Paul Cortez, as well as themselves, to see that Paul Cortez is afforded a fair and proper attempt to prove his innocence.
Thank you,
Diane Seltzer
I personally cannot accept that Paul is in a prison cell right now when so much DNA evidence was ignored. The media twisted the “facts” of this case. The jury was nonsequestered, Paul’s attorney’s were completely unprepared and inept, and the prosecutor’s theory is not plausible. It is impossible that Paul could have snuck into the victim’s apartment without the detection of surveillance cameras; that he could have entered the apartment, murdered the victim in such a gruesome way without getting any cuts on himself; cleaned up in the apartment and somehow changed his clothes so as to not have any blood on him; ran out again (avoiding the cameras) not seen by anyone on an incredibly busy NYC intersection (86th Street & 1st Avenue); ran ten blocks uptown without anyone noticing him; and then stopped to call a few clients to schedule work appointments — all within a 14-minute span. I am sorry, but I cannot accept that justice has been served.
I too have been following this case for almost a year. It is frighteningly true that a google search will reveal many horrific details about Paul Cortez. But therein lies the problem: the media took this story and ran with it, and the majority of statements are completely and utterly unsubstantiated (with records to prove it). How disturbing that we live in a country that prides itself on justice and freedom while at the same time sending our law-abiding, hard-working citizens to jail for crimes that other people committed…and in this case – like so many others – entirely for profit. Juicy tabloid headlines transparently translate into cash in tabloid writers’ pockets. If you take the time to actually read the articles about Paul Cortez, however, I am certain of two things: 1) you will be appalled at the unprofessional reporting, language, and blatant racism. 2) You will undoubtedly agree that Paul Cortez deserves a fair trial.
Paul Cortex commited the murder… If you were at the trial you would see it.. The ONLY evidence found whether physical or circumstantial pointed to only one person being Paul Cortez.. Catherine was afraid of Paul for months prior to the murder and he couldnt take it anymore even writing about his frustrations towards catherine in his journals.. He did it, he did it.. And anything he says now is just a desperate plea to get out JUST LIKE every other convicted murderer in prison
http://www.dontfreepaulcortez.org
I don’t know enough about this case to make an honest comment about the legitimacy of Paul Cortez’s conviction. But I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if he was framed. You see, what I do know is this; No one knows more than I do about ‘wrongful convictions’, aka ‘bum beefs’.
I was framed for a murder, by Massachusetts’ alleged justice system, i.e. a politically ambitious district attorney – who’s now a United States Congressman – a state trooper who lied and hid evidence, and a judge who not only let them get away with it, but also pitched in and contributed to the aforementioned collaborators underhanded tactics. It took me 20 years to prove this because, every time I discovered new evidence, the Department of Correction shipped me out of state to federal penitentiaries. And, every time the courts ordered me back to Massachusetts, the DOC kept me locked in the hole, without even charging me with any disciplinary violations. I did about ten years in the feds and ten years in the hole, coincidentally, the two most challenging places to be able to do legal work and overturn a wrongful conviction.
My case is a textbook example of how the system can be manipulated and abused through the combined efforts of an ambitious prosecutor/politician, unethical or overzealous police work, a judge who allows them to do anything they want, and certain elements of the media who find it to their advantage to parrot what the prosecutors, or the cops, tell them and report it as fact. Of course, the suppliers of the information are usually identified as “informed sources” and the “facts” are always prefaced with “allegedly”.
My case was started by a bizarre story, in the Boston Globe, that was filled with lies, under a dramatically phony front page headline:
“Police discover inmate execution squad at Walpole state prison”
And that was just the first in a list of phony stories that the media parroted for big brother.
My point is, I am far from being the only one who was framed. I’ve just written a book, The Execution Squad Fraud, bum beefed, in which I detail and document everything stated above. If anyone cares to verify, or challenge, my assertions, please check my book’s website, http://www.bumbeefed.com, where I name some of the other people who’ve been framed. In one of those cases, in which the FBI, all the way up to, and including J. Edgar Hoover, knew that they framed four guys for a murder, they hid so much evidence that a congressional COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM ordered them to turn it over. Then Bush stepped in and invoked ‘Executive Privilege’, which let them continue to hide it. I wonder if Congress ordered it again, if President Obama would let the truth come out?
Practices like this one; is practiced in every state, and it should be illegal; but I guess you have to except it because we allow the prosecution to use black mail to win their cases, and allow the attorney generals to throw out the laws that protect the citizens, and allow the police to threaten the people, and their families that try to have the laws reinstated; then why not except this? Well I can’t accept it; but the only way to beat them is to make their practices know to everyone that put them in office, or stoop to their level.