New era, new media, new records shred privacy in sensational criminal cases
Public records begin to distort opinion, right to a fair trial
Posted: May 9, 2010 By Dana Treen
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http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2...criminal-cases
Last month on drug-trafficking charges, Hope Sykes was heard in a recorded declaration saying prosecutors "can kiss my - - -" over a possible six-year sentence as a youthful offender.
The judge who instead sent Sykes to prison for 15 years never mentioned the comment, but the intent of the prosecutors who played the recording was clear.
"Thought it was ammunition against her remorse the chief assistant public defender in Putnam County, said of the prosecution.
Using defendants' words against them is not a new tactic in courtrooms. Increasingly, however, jailhouse phone calls, images from inmate visits with family and recordings in police operations are aired in public where they can steer opinion.
Sykes' arrest pulled her into the high-profile investigation of Haleigh Cummings.
The arrest with Cummings and others in the trafficking case swept Sykes up in a saga that has inundated the public with images and recordings as interest in the cases escalated.
Negative pretrial publicity has been shown to have an impact on jury perceptions in trials, said Levett, an assistant psychology of law professor at the University of Florida.
"It has a potential to have an impact on jurors' decisions," she said.
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