katiecoolady
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I want to just say some things about my personal opinions about Michael Kiefer's trial coverage. Please take it with a grain of salt as it's just my opinion based on years knowing him and my personal observations. And I"m not going to share all I know or opine on but just be aware of some really sketchy things about him covering this trial.
1. He's vehemently opposed to the death penalty. His admitted "best friend" was one of the attorneys representing my sister's killer in a 7 year long mental retardation argument to get him off death row (which worked for one, not the other).
2. He reported things as fact in the Arias trial, that ended up being reprinted in USA Today that were complete fabrications. For example, when that "photo gate" issue happened with a picture of Katie Wick with Juan Martinez surfaced in court, being used as argument that Martinez was influencing jurors in the vicinity by "grandstanding" outside the courthouse, Kiefer "reported" that Martinez was regularly seen outside the courthouse mugging for cameras, schmoozing with the public. He used that photo as his backup for this entirely false claim. It was REPRINTED in USA Today as fact.
In reality, that happened exactly ONE time during the trial. And the circumstances were this: a local TV reporter who he (Martinez) knows was doing a piece on his newfound popularity and the volumes of calls and mail coming in for him from around the world. She knew he wouldn't be interviewed for this piece but asked him a favor: to walk with him in front of the courthouse after hours so silent footage could be taken of them together to be used. He complied with this AFTER court was long over and of course there were people still milling around who saw him outside on this ONE AND ONLY OCCASION and asked him for photo ops. The entire incident lasted about 10 minutes start to finish. I know this because I spoke with not only people who posed for those photos but the reporter who did the piece on him. I got this entire story directly from her. To me. In person.
In that same story, (that sadly ended up wasting precious court time because of whatever Kiefer cooked up with the defense to try and argue for Jodi--yes I do believe that was going on throughout the entire trial and it's entirely my opinion based on many many things I personally observed), Kiefer "reported" that while Martinez was out mugging for the cameras, the defense was having to walk out a side door of the courthouse with security.
That was an entirely FALSE statement. Or, at best, completely exaggerated. Now, perhaps, maybe during the LaViolette debacle, they requested security for all of them one time or one day. But, I will tell you based on my entire first hand experience, that that defense team walked out the very same door I did nearly every single day I attended the trial and saw them afterward. Kirk Nurmi once held the door open for me. In fact, I took a photo of them walking straight past the media trucks, on the same street, unattended and smiling for onlookers who were taking their photos. This was their path to the parking lot where they parked, right near the media trucks, nearly every day. How do I know this? I parked in that same lot many many days and saw Nurmi, de la Rosa, get in their cars right beside me. They had to walk past the media trucks to get there. Hardly people in fear. Oh and I never once saw them escorted by anyone, other than each other.
3. Kiefer reported Alyce La Violette being "stalked" to a restaurant and harassed. In FACT, the defense team took her for dinner in a very busy Asian restaurant called PeiWei and a diner near them saw them and HEARD them out loud discussing trial strategy and was shocked to see/hear that, so snapped a photo and tweeted it. Kiefer reported that as her being stalked and harassed. The tweeter cleared that all up but he never redacted his comments and continued to report about her being "stalked" based on that one tweet/photo.
Days later, she was spotted, with the defense team walking past ALL the media (who were there) in the Palomar hotel right near the courthouse for dinner. And dined there. The very hotel the media were staying in and all milling around. There are numerous options to go for dinner in downtown Phoenix and poor ALV, having just been "stalked and harassed" decides to walk right in to the Lion's den for a leisurely dinner. Wonder if that was before or after her "stress ER visit". All blamed on Martinez and the prosecution, by Kiefer.
4. The day it was decided that Daryl Brewer would not testify for Jodi in the sentencing phase, miraculously there was an immediate TV interview set up in an undisclosed impromptu studio with lighting, cameras and a local tv personality interviewing him with Kiefer's voice in the background asking the questions. Now this happened RIGHT after he left the courthouse , either that...or before court even began that day when he indicated he would not be testifying. But he gave his glowing remarks about Jodi to "the media" encouraged by Kiefer without cross examination, which aired early that afternoon-basically testifying for Jodi aided by the media. The timing, to me, was suspicious. Not to mention Kiefer who was ALWAYS in court on time, arrived an hour late that day with a cat who swallowed the canary grin on his face. I did the math in my head but encourage you to do the same.
5. And finally, the day before the hung jury in the penalty phase came in, I was there in the hall all day with other supporters waiting for the verdict. Media all around us. An online article via AZcentral, Kiefer's employer, was published as we sat there waiting, which indicated the jury HAD hung and interpreted a question they asked as they were final and he reported who the foreperson was. I started asking around--Beth Karas, Jeffrey Gold, the media person for the court--just how did he know who the foreperson was at that stage as it had not been announced. And why was he reporting a hung jury when it had not come in yet? As the hour wore on that article was redacted and redacted and those "facts" were removed (easy to do with an online article right?). Why? And how did he know that , at that stage, they had in fact hung (they did by then but it wasn't announced until the NEXT day) and who the foreperson was (a man who had a career in media--radio). Sure made me wonder.
So....since you will be relying on accurate trial reporting from inside the courthouse I encourage you to take anything Kiefer reports with these facts in mind. I have so much more, including personal correspondence from him (he was my friend for a long long time before this trial) that I won't publicly post but it was enough to a. sever ties with him and b. never trust his reporting on anything death penalty related...or Juan Martinez related for that matter.
That's it!
