reputation management

From the outside it looks like it has been a wild ride for attorney Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, starting with taking on his employer back when he was a tabloid reporter covering the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation. He contradicted the media persecution of the Ramsey's and proposed the possibility that an unknown male may have killed JonBenet before anyone else was willing to whisper that possibility that has since been proven true. Now in another bold move, he is stepping up to cure the tarnished reputation of our past President George W Bush. Yes, I think W really needs some help in this area, however doing so may be risky in opening another can of worms many folks remain incredibly passionate about. It's a tall order in front of Shapiro and I have to give him credit; the guy has stamina and guts. Admirable. At the same time I have to wonder what advice he might have for undoing the years of demonization of the innocent parents and brother of a brutally murdered 6 year old - -

The Bush Restoration Project
Published in Slate
By Jordan Michael Smith

"Jeffrey Scott Shapiro talks about George W. Bush the way Buddhists talk about the Dalai Lama.... It's hardly surprising, then, that Shapiro founded Honor Freedom, an organization devoted to restoring Bush's reputation. And Shapiro may actually succeed—especially since Bush, too, will be working on the same project, if not the same organization.

Shapiro's views of the media were shaped by experience. After covering the JonBenét Ramsey case for the Globe tabloid as a reporter, he voluntarily reported his editors to the FBI for criminal violations and testified against them in a grand jury as a key witness. Shapiro says his coverage of the Ramsey case and the Chandra Levy case led him to resent the media's abuse of the First Amendment, which "probably led to my feelings about the media lies told about President Bush."

...And though Shapiro's cause may seem unlikely, it's possible—even likely—that Bush's popularity will at least partially recover..."[read more]

extremely

Andrew Cohen's article and questions about the murder of census worker Bill Sparkman, with comparison to the media attention given to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, is one of the more interesting pieces I have read in a long time--

Kentucky Census Bureau Worker Death: Murder Most Foul

Published in Vanity Fair

by Andrew Cohen

"If ever there were a non-threatening agent of the federal government, it was Bill Sparkman, the Census Bureau worker whose body was found hanging from a tree two weeks ago in a cemetery in Kentucky....

So far, no one has come forward to explain precisely how and why Sparkman’s body was found bound and gagged, with his Census ID pinned to his forehead, and the word “fed” scrawled upon his chest...

And at the same time, sadly, it’s not hard to understand why the relentless media drumbeat which always seems to accompany high-profile murders—Annie Le, Chandra Levy, JonBenet Ramsey—is absent here.[...read more]

Andrew Cohen is CBS News Chief Legal Analyst and Legal Editor. His CourtWatch columns and blog for CBS News can be found here. He also can be found on Twitter @cbsandrewcohen

grayscale

An arrest in the Chandra Levy case blogger Ludlum Drive calls for the too-little-too-late media apology to Gary Condit that JonBenet's parents will never receive, either--

The Rush Into a Verdict
Ludlum Drive
March 4, 2009

"...I must admit, I was once young, oh please who am I kidding I am still young, and obsessed with white or black. I never knew what gray meant and never cared to acknowledge it or give an inch of possibility of it even existing. For me the world revolved around my sphere and as far as I was concerned, nothing else mattered.

Just like JonBenet’s parents long before the Congressman, in particular her mother Patsy Ramsey, endured scorn and were mercilessly accused for months (by smart people I may add) of having killed or being accomplices to their own daughter’s disappearance. They were later cleared of all charges yet to some the cloud still lingers; they must have done something. C’mon where there is smoke, there is fire, say the naysayers. Yeah, until it happens to you!...

Even knowing that Patsy Ramsey was dying of cancer, the pundits did not let up. They continued pounding to the point of her not taking pleasure of the partial good news (the offender has yet to be found and they were no longer under suspicion) before her passing. No one had the decency to write an apology of sorts for having been wrong. They were just doing their job, they stated...

We have proven over and over again that one is considered guilty until proven innocent is a standard in our society and there is nothing we can do to meliorate it; we are beings...

Then you have the pundits Nancy Grace, (yes you) and the so called experts who believe they have an answer before there is even an answer. The Gloria Albrights who believe that one way to combat and acquire empathy is to be one loud mouthpiece and the Al Sharptons who insert voice ahead of the facts. Although, it is frankly sometimes effective, too much of it can turn out to be a little too detrimental to those involved. These individuals make us drunk with their righteousness and rhetorics. They cast suspicion by reverberating venomous spiteful dialog and attempt to influence our ego as if we are not capable of making our own conclusions...

As one of my good friends said to me once, if he was an attorney (I am glad he is not), he would never want to have me sited as a member of the jury; there is because I am not so easily captivated by absurdities. It takes a while to have me bought. I am no longer into black or white; I deviated now to gray; I need the evidence and then some...

As for Gary Condit, nearly eight years after Chandra Levy disappearance on a warm day in March, DC police finally charged an illegal immigrant from El Salvador Ingmar Guandique, 27 (serving a 10-year prison sentence for attacking two other women at knifepoint in the park around the time of Chandra’s disappearance) with killing her near a remote hiking trail deep in Rock Creek Park. Go figure! Gary Condit does deserve an apology with matching colors, parade, marching bands and all."

it's all about the DNA

Looks like Chandra Levy's parents finally may have answers and Gary Condit will be relieved of suffering from erroneous vilification in the welcome news of enough evidence to convict in Chandra's brutal murder 8 years ago.

Perhaps rumblings are correct about involvement of those heroes over at Bode Technology Group. Surely you may remember, that’s the firm that has been so instrumental in 9/11 victim identifications and last year found JonBenet's killer's full DNA profile in skin cells on her nightclothes--

Gary Condit's mother: 'It has always followed our family'
CNN

"...Although police never named the former California congressman as a suspect in Chandra Levy's murder -- his mother said he was branded for life with a scarlet letter....

A CNN source close to the investigation said the suspect is Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran laborer, and investigators have reportedly recently collected and retested DNA...."

feeding time at the zoo

As investigators in the 2001 slaying of Chandra Levy prepare an arrest warrant for a Salvadoran immigrant suspected in the former interns brutal murder, the media returns to her parents home--

Media zoo's upside: Closure at last
By JEFF JARDINE
February 24, 2009

"A smattering of television crews and other assorted media assembled in front of Bob and Susan Levy's north Modesto home Saturday....The scene, Levy said Monday, seemed mildly reminiscent of what her family experienced during the spring and summer of 2001, after daughter Chandra Levy disappeared in Washington, D.C.

Over the course of the summer, they became friends with the media regulars, some of whom had worked similar media sieges during the Montana Freemen standoff, the JonBenét Ramsey murder case and the Unabomber trial.

"We got to feed the press," Susan Levy said. "We had so much food from the neighbors -- they were so great -- that we gave (the media) the leftovers from our dinner."

Meanwhile, Susan Levy remained home awaiting the news she's so anxious to receive: the call from the D.C. police confirming they've charged her daughter's killer at last...

The zoo, if nothing else, is therapeutic."