12 p.m. EST
George Hyatte and Jennifer Forsyth, the escaped Tennessee inmate and his wife, were captured last night at a motel in Columbus, OH. They had apparently taken a cab from a town in Kentucky, and the driver notified that police of their whereabouts.
While one could argue that this story got an inordinately large amount of media attention, it does bring up some issues worth examining. I was struck first by the way the blogs and then MSM picked up on the "Bonnie and Clyde" analogies. I heard Nancy Grace refer to them as Bonnie and Clyde last night, and it stunned me.
Raising such dangerous and ignorant criminals to the level of this kind of romanticized mythology casts a sympathetic light on two figures who did little more than commit a heinous and utterly stupid act of violence. They are not cult heroes, they're just morons.
The other thing that disturbs me are the stories of women who fall in love with convicts and hardened criminals. I will not pretend to know Jennifer Forsyth's psychological problems, but this does seem like an act of someone blinded by love or manipulated by need. She is now eligible for the death penalty in the state of Tennessee. Sad, really. As sad as these women who send love letters to Scott Peterson. Even Amber Frey knew that was bad news.
In other news, Ron Reagan just finished jury duty. I can't imagine having him on my jury. I served jury duty once and I was excited to learn that another juror had a non-speaking role on "Law & Order." Ron trumps that.
Regardless, it is good peg for a discussion on the jury system. It angered me to hear jurors from the Michael Jackson case coming out months later to say they believe he was guilty of molestation. I mean, too little too late toots. They had ample chance to convict and they did nothing. Does the jury system really work, especially when the panelists have stars in their eyes?
Email me. tmaciulis@msnbc.com