August 17, 2004

NO DELAY

District Judge Terry Ruckriegle may not have a feel for the First Amendment, but his rejection Friday of the prosecution's request for a delay in the trial of NBA star Kobe Bryant showed good legal sense.

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District Attorney Mark Hurlbert filed the motion to delay, claiming the mistaken release of edited transcripts of admissible testimony without a prosecution response would taint the potential jury. But Ruckriegle wisely ruled that there was no evidence to suggest the transcripts dealing with the sex life of Bryant's accuser were influencing the jury pool.

We sense Ruckriegle must know that what matters most isn't the fact the information is now in the public realm; ultimately, it's how he allows it to be presented at trial.

CHEATING VOTERS

Turning New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey into a victim of intolerance completely misses the point.

You have to wonder about the judgment of someone who in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks would appoint his alleged lover to a newly created post of homeland security adviser without any background check or official announcement. Amid questions about what he did to earn his $110,000 salary, Golan Cipel was reassigned in March 2002 to a "special counsel" job and quit a few months later.

Worse perhaps is that by delaying his resignation until Nov. 15, McGreevey is bypassing the rights of New Jersey's citizens to have a special gubernatorial election this fall. That leaves the people's business in the hands of a lame-duck governor until a new one is elected in late 2005.

- Rocky Mountain News

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