Court Cases

Like putty in her hands. Not long after Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty today to the murder last year of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Lima, Peru, Nancy Grace spoke with his friend John Ludwick.

Ludwick essentially blames the victim and says he’s hopeful van der Sloot will be out of prison in 10 years.

John Ludwick, I reserve this for a very few people. But you sir, are a fool. And what you have said sets victim’s rights back hmmm maybe a couple hundred years. Take him off the screen! I don’t want to look at him anymore!

The interview tonight on “Nancy Grace.” Here’s a preview:

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A new twist in the controversial Dr. Conrad Murray documentary set to air tonight on MSNBC. While Michael Jackson‘s family is fuming, some of Dr. Murray’s creditors are suing.

A company called Digirad Imaging Solutions has named Murray, as well as MSNBC, NBCU and several other media companies in a lawsuit seeking $147,000 it says it is owed by Murray. The OCWeekly has the complaint which says the media companies are being used as “mere subterfuges employed by defendant Conrad Robert Murray to escape liability for his debts and obligations.”

THR’s Marisa Guthrie reports MSNBC paid a “six-figure fee” — $300,000 reports RadarOnline — to air the doc, which was produced by October Films and distributed by Zodiak Media Group. All are named in the Digirad suit. For its part, NBC got a pre-trial interview with Dr. Murray, which has aired over the past two days on the “Today” show.

Meanwhile, NBC News has more Jackson stories planned for next week. NBC News correspondent Jeff Rossen, who covered the Murray trial, teased an “exclusive tour” inside the Holmby Hills home where Jackson spent his final days. Rossen was among a group of reporters who got a tour of home — now up for auction — last Monday, the same day Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death. The reporters’ tour was arranged by the auction company.

Michael Jackson and the Doctor: A Fatal Friendship, premieres tonight on MSNBC at 10pmET and re-airs at 11pm. The documentary is being sold around the world and aired last night on Channel 4 in Britain with the title The Man Who Killed Michael Jackson.

(h/t FishbowlLA)

When Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of killing pop star Michael Jackson yesterday afternoon, all of the cable news channels saw a ratings boost.

During the 4 PM hour, which was when the verdict was read, Fox News had the most viewers with 1.753 million viewers, barely topping HLN which drew 1.736 million viewers. In the key adults 25-54 demo however, HLN was far and away the leader, drawing 630,000 people. CNN also drew over one million demo viewers, and placed second behind HLN in the demo.

The numbers from 4pm-5pmET Monday:

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> Breaking: At 4:17pmET, the verdict was read. Conrad Murray is guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of pop star Michael Jackson.

The CBS News special report ran until 4:22pm, ABC’s until 4:23 and NBC’s and FOX’s until 4:24pm. Fox News also ended coverage, anchored by Shepard Smith, at 4:24 when Eric Bolling picked up on “Your World” filling in for Neil Cavuto. HLN, MSNBC and CNN continued through the 4pmET hour.

> Earlier: The networks are preparing a special reports for the verdict in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. Around 2:05pmET, the the jury announced it had reached a verdict which will be read around 4pmET.

ABC News will produce a special report with Diane Sawyer anchoring from New York. Brian Williams Actually now Harry Smith will anchor a network special report for NBC stations and Scott Pelley will anchor a special for CBS stations. Bill Hemmer will anchor for FOX stations.

The cable news channels will all be carrying the verdict. CNN International will simulcast CNN/US beginning at 3:30pmET. HLN will be without the services of trial queen Nancy Grace who is rehearsing for tonight’s “Dancing with the Stars.” Jane Velez Mitchell will lead coverage on HLN and fill in on “Nancy Grace” tonight, which has been the arrangement on previous Monday and Tuesday nights during the ABC dancing competition.

ABC’s Chris Cuomo took to Twitter this morning to jab the Madoff family interviews on other networks.

Bernie Madoff‘s wife Ruth and son Andrew spoke to Morley Safer last night on “60 Minutes,” and this morning to Matt Lauer on “Today.” Earlier this month, Cuomo interviewed Stephanie Mack the widow of the other Madoff son, Mark. Her account of the days, weeks and months following the revelation of the multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme differs from that of her mother-in-law and brother-in-law.

Late last week Cuomo posed a question to his followers, also about Lauer:

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A California judge has denied NBC’s motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by a man featured in a “To Catch a Predator” operation.

Variety reports District Court Judge Edward Chen Thursday denied NBC’s motion to dismiss the case filed by Anurag Tiwari over a 2006 undercover sting operation in Petaluma, CA.

The two felony counts against Tiwari were dismissed, and he is suing the network for defamation, emotional distress and invasion of privacy based on the humiliation caused when police allegedly arrested him with unnecessary force at the behest of “Predator” producers.

Tiwari argues the sting cost him his job as a software engineer.

“To Catch a Predator” is no longer in production, but reruns can be seen occasionally on MSNBC. The show has prompted lawsuits from the family of a man who was to be the subject of a report and who later committed suicide, as well as someone who worked on the series. In August, charges were dropped against another man who was also part of the 2006 operation in Petaluma.

A copy of the Judge’s ruling, after the jump…

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On AC360 last night, with John King sitting in, Michael Jackson friend and former attorney Mark Geragos commended the network for not showing the autopsy photo of Jackson, which was introduced at trial Tuesday.

“Kudos to your network, unlike some other networks, for not showing the autopsy photo,” said Geragos. “It’s inexplicable to me why that’s being played by other networks.”

“We’re not going to show it,” said King. “We have some standards here.”

But during the 3pmET hour today on CNN, Brooke Baldwin introduced a segment on the case by showing the photo. To Baldwin’s credit, she gave ample warning:

“I want to warn you, this is the moment you can turn if you don’t want to see this because the picture you are about to see is graphic and you might find it disturbing to see.”

The picture then stayed up for :11 seconds. But it was not used again during a segment in which the autopsy photo was was discussed.

Click through to see the autopsy photo, via CNN.

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In a letter sent to the New York Post and obtained by TVNewser, Amanda Knox‘s father Curt Knox disputes what was written in Page Six today about news organizations allegedly “babysitting” his two youngest daughters.

Specifically, Knox argues that while ABC News provided its producer’s hotel room for his daughters to stay in during the trial, at no time did the producer “babysit” the children. He writes that a CBS News producer also provided a hotel room for them to stay in during the day (a claim CBS denies, below), and that an NBC News producer offered them a room to use if they needed one, (NBC’s response, also below):

One of ABC’s producers, Nikki Battiste, was very kind to offer to let the girls stay in her hotel room during court sessions. However, the NY Post article refers to this kind gesture as “babysitting”. This is an outright lie, as at no point in time did Ms. Battiste stay in the room and babysit my younger children. She was accomplishing her required job functions in the courtroom and during shoots with Elizabeth Vargas and various other talent. I would like to clarify again that at “no point in time” was Ms. Battiste EVER babysitting my younger daughters.

Further clarification to this NY Post article is the mis-information related to the other networks, NBC and CBS. During one of the morning court sessions, Ashley

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Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino conducted a series of interviews with convicted felon Bernie Madoff. One of the recurring themes of the interviews was Madoff’s interaction with the media while behind bars (FBN included). Gasparino reveals that Madoff appears to have booked his first on-camera TV news interview since being incarcerated, with the leading candidate supposedly being NBC’s “Today.”

Meanwhile, just about every major television media outlet — including FOX Business — is asking for the first on-camera interview with the convicted swindler.

Rumors are swirling that the ‘Today Show’ has been to Butner to shoot footage in preparation for the first on-camera spot with Madoff. Madoff won’t comment, other than to say that he has made one commitment to one major network that may or may not pan out and the decision is “weeks away.”

Gasparino also writes that Madoff’s son, Andrew Madoff, is speaking to CBS’ “60 Minutes”:

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Five years after appearing in one of Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” stings, a 26-year-old California man has been acquitted of the charge against him.

After six days of testimony, a Judge threw out the case against Joseph Roisman and criticized the tactics used by Dateline’s partner, Perverted Justice for engaging in entrapment.

Roisman is the only one of 29 men prosecuted in the Northern California sting to beat the charges. His father had spent more than $100,000 on his defense. “They made my son’s life a living hell for five years,” says Roisman’s mother, who vowed to sue NBC.

Roisman was on leave from the Navy when he was arrested during a three-day sex sting in Petaluma in August 2006.

The episode and transcript featuring Roisman can still be found on msnbc.com