It seems to be a never ending story of celebrities with criminal charges. Brand new in the news Lindsey Lohan Paris Hilton Michael Vick, and Dog the Bounty Hunter. This is nothing new history especially recent history has seen a lot of celebrities inside courtrooms. This month we take a look at celebrity justice. Do they get a bad deal because they are celebrities, or do they get off eas?. First let's take a look at a few individual cases. 

Michael Jackson:

As with anything involving Michael Jackson the trial of child molestation was certainly theatrics as usual. After 32 hours of deliberation the jury returned a not guilty verdict in the trial of child molestation charges. The trial was filled with odd behavior by Michael Jackson such as when he showed up late to court in his pajamas, or the celebratory dance on the top of the car. Who could forget. Did these theatrics work? Did he get off? given the unreliable testimony this one is up in the air for me. One thing that couldn't be brought in the trial was the 1993 settlement he made with a prior charge. Personally with that information I would lean toward him getting off, but this one is probably a draw. While his behavior is certainly suspicious, no one has really given any tangible evidence to convict him. 

OJ:

Who can forget the trial of the century. The drama continues even today, with the book that OJ has written about "If he would have done it" That seems like a pretty clear admission, and a sick way of promoting an evil deed for financial gain, however what seems worse is now the Goldman's want to use the book sales as way to pay on the settlement that OJ owes. Pretty sick if you ask me, and no better then what OJ is doing himself. 

The OJ trial, had the dream team the so called "mountain of evidence" how could we forget. This trial was yet another circus the media exposure, Then the critical mistake of having OJ put on gloves, leather gloves with plastic gloves underneath! What a brain dead move! Somebody didn't think about that. If Marcia Clark could have been charged with complete idiocy, and incompetence there was certainly a "mountain of evidence" for that. 

This was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice, but how could the jury find anything different? With the racist cop the gloves the time line, and truck loads of reasonable doubt from all the mistakes. One must give the credit to the dream team for totally destroying the prosecution's case. Money bought freedom in this case! 

The drama continued with the wrongful death case. Again I believe OJ did it, but he was found innocent, so there should have been no trial at all. Did OJ get away with it? Yes, but what has happened since has been as despicable as the acts that were committed

Martha Stewart:

The stock scandal. Martha Stewart was found guilty on all counts in the scandal. She could have been sentenced to twenty years in prison, but received ten months. The SEC, and justice department seemed determined to use this case to warn those who don't play by the rules that there will be consequences. She served less then two months in prison, and served 5 months house arrest. 

I believe once again that she got off easy, it was speculated she was treated with Kid gloves while in prison, and should have served the entire sentence. Ten months was not extreme, after all she was facing a total of twenty years. 

Duane "Dog" Chapman:

This trial has gathered much attention, and quite a bit of anger towards the Mexican authorities. As of August second the charges against Duane Chapman have been dropped. This after four years which Mr. Chapman had a federal warrant from The FBI for escaping the jurisdiction of the Mexican government for his arrest. Bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico Mr. Chapman could have used the legal channels, but decided to violate the law. This case is interesting because it raises the question is it better to break the law to catch the greater evil? After all he took a alleged serial rapist off the street. Is it acceptable for an American to go to another country, and break their laws just to bring a fugitive to justice. If Mr. Chapman is a bounty hunter didn't he break the same laws he swears to uphold? 

Arguments have been made that illegal immigrants come into the US, and commit crimes, therefore why create a witch hunt for Dog the bounty hunter? Simply this has zero relevance to the case at hand. Mr. Chapman broke the law he knows it no matter what comments he makes against Police officers, and federal agents as he did on the Glen Beck show. His only response was to bash American officers, and didn't seem to care that he had broken Mexican law. His only response was flaunting that he had the right just because of who he was, and he has claimed to be better then other law enforcement. 

So this brings us to the question did Dog get away with it? I believe the few days in jail was probably enough, but two wrongs don't make a right. This one is a draw ,there are way too much emotions in the whole matter, and I feel that the decisions made were political even so the few days in jail was enough. The raw emotion, and politics seemed to dominate this case. This case is not about illegal immigrants committing crimes in the United States, and has nothing to do with his skill, or if he is better than law enforcement. He broke a law, and if it were any other bounty hunter they would probably be serving their jail term right now. Yes he did get off, but it's hard to put a guy in jail for getting a serial rapist off the street. Still what  bothers me is do we have a guy that doesn't care about laws. What happens when Dog kicks down the wrong door? (I bet they'll forget to put that on camera) 

Paris Hilton:

Yet another circus trial. Paris Hilton DUI, and driving with a suspended license trial. She has been caught on camera leaving the scene of an accident, driving with a suspended license, and driving drunk while she had a suspended license. Seems like a lot of stuff right? It is! She seemingly thumbed her nose at the law, and then complained when they struck back at how she was being singled out. She received less then three weeks in jail when she could have spent 90 days in jail. Did Paris get off ? Oh Yeah!! Will she do it again? My guess give her a year or so. 

Maurice Clarett:

After violating NCAA regulations, and a tragic attempt at suing the NFL's draft procedure. Maurice had his brush with the law as well being charged with possession of a concealed weapon robbery, and resisting arrest Eventually Clarett was selected into the NFL by the Denver Broncos, but was released. Nearly a  year later he was arrested for possession of a concealed weapon, and resisting arrest. 

He struck a deal for seven and a half years in jail with a possibility of release in three, and a half years. It seems we have one celebrity that got what was coming to them. Though he still may get out much easier then most. 

The other two Lindsey Lohan, and Michael Vick:

Their trials have yet to happen yet. Let's first take a look at Lindsey. After getting out of Rehab what does she do a few weeks later? Take her ankle bracelet off, and go partying. When she was arrested this time they found cocaine so now there are felony drug charges. 

Then there's Mr. Vick, he has had an arraignment already, and didn't even have to post bail which seems to go in line with what we've seen over, and over again that the celebrities get all the breaks. His trial will be later on this year, so we will have to wait and see.  

Aside from a few trials it seems that the scales seem to be tilted in the favor of the celebrity, so I think we can safely say that celebrities get a break. At the very least they will get the benefit of the doubt, which is more then the average Joe would get, after all nobody cares about an average Joe, but a celebrity that's an entirely different story altogether 

My 10 cents worth of wisdom

Next Month: China, The Giant has awoken. 

Rant of the month:

 My compliments to vehicle brake manufactures! You save the guy that goes flying up to stopped traffic on the highway, I guess he thought they were equip with rockets, and could go from 0-90 in 2 milliseconds. When they realize this won't happen then they have you to thank for saving their stupid behinds. Hats off! 

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