Friday, February 20, 2004

Recommended Reading

If you'd like to know more about the battle between Michael Eisner and Roy Disney for control of the Disney empire, this New York Times article will tell you plenty.

• Posted at 5:03 PM · LINK

Ego Posting

The current issue of Written By, a magazine published by the Writers Guild, has a one-page article about me, much of which consists of quotes from this website, accompanied by a photo from when I was about nine. I am not suggesting you plunk down money for this issue, at least because of that. But if I don't post this, I'll get a few dozen e-mails from folks asking, "Do you know there's an article about you in the new issue of Written By?" So yes, thanks, I know. And you have no idea how happy this kind of thing makes my mother. (If my Aunt Dot were still with us, she'd be happy too, but she'd have said, "All those pages and they only devoted one to you?")

• Posted at 2:16 PM · LINK

Bill Oakley, R.I.P.

One of the best letterers in comics, Bill Oakley, died last Monday...from cancer, I am told. I never met Bill but he lettered a few comics I wrote and I always admired his work. This link will take you to a page in his hometown newspaper with a brief obit. (Thanks to Tom Hegeman.)

• Posted at 2:04 PM · LINK

Justice Denied

During the second O.J. Simpson trial, and especially after as we heard more about what had transpired, I became a big fan of Daniel Petrocelli. He was the lead lawyer representing the Goldmans. He was the guy who won the case, essentially by doing everything right. Like Petrocelli, the prosecutors in the first trial had a mountain of evidence to demonstrate Simpson's guilt, but they laid it out poorly and buckled as Judge Ito allowed O.J.'s legal "Dream Team" to introduce months of diversions and Red Herrings. Petrocelli and his team took that evidence, added to it, then — abetted by a no-nonsense judge — laid it out with such clarity that no jury could get distracted. He also had the advantage of being able to get Simpson on the stand...and if you ever want to see a good example of an attorney ripping a witness to shreds, just take a look at those transcripts. I believe one juror even said that this testimony alone convinced them of Simpson's guilt.

After the trial, Petrocelli took a few well-earned victory laps on the talk show circuit, defending the verdict (mostly against F. Lee Bailey's carping) and later returned to promote his boastful but interesting book about the whole experience. I liked him a lot and even sent him a fan letter that said something about how if there were more of him around, lawyers would not have such a bad image. So I winced a bit when I heard that in the matter of Disney versus the people who control Winnie the Pooh, Petrocelli was representing Disney. And now that he's representing Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron exec who stands accused on 35 criminal counts of fraud and insider trading, I feel like recalling that fan letter.

It's not that I presume Disney or Skilling must be wholly in the wrong or that they have no right to the best legal counsel they can afford. It's just that...well, in a high-profile case like this, the lawyer not only defends the guy in court but acts as a public spokesperson. Even though he may know his client is guilty as Capone, the lawyer has to declare the injustice of his guy being railroaded, and impugn the I.Q. and integrity of prosecutors who are just trying to put a crook behind bars. Yeah, I know it comes with the job but it still makes me cringe to see someone fib like that. Petrocelli was all over the news yesterday, declaring Skilling's innocence with the same rhetoric and passion he once employed to say Simpson was guilty as guilty could be...

Jeff Skilling has nothing to hide. He did not steal. He did not lie. He did not take anyone's money and in the 60 pages of charges filed by the United States government, they don't even accuse him of these things, and it's not from lack of trying.

No, the indictment doesn't specifically accuse him of those things which is why it's a straw man argument. The indictment accuses the guy of insider trading that gained him about $62 million at a time when Enron execs were covering up the company's problems. Rumor has it that's illegal...and in any case, that $62 million had to come out of somebody's pocket. What do you want to bet that Skilling will wind up plea-bargaining and pleading guilty to a lesser charge? And that Petrocelli knows that?

Maybe it was too much to hope that Daniel Petrocelli would use his awesome skills only for the underdogs and for righting wrongs. Maybe it's naïve to think he could make just as good a living doing that...or maybe it's cynical to think Petrocelli doesn't think all his clients are the good guys. In the Disney case, he's going up against Johnny Cochran, who helped free Simpson and now represents the custodians of Winnie the Pooh. I guess I'm bothered because it's getting harder and harder to figure out who to root for.

• Posted at 1:59 PM · LINK