Last century, Stalin invented the concept of the "show trial" where the State used trials of its opponents to advance policy and influence opinion. This strategy was quite successful and was rapidly adopted by many governments. Nuremburg and the Watergate Hearings were notable examples of this in the West -- all the more effective when the defendants were indeed guilty SOBs.
But the world changes. Where the State's purposes were paramount in the 20th Century, news is now too important to be left to agents of the State. The global news agencies and their 24-hour news cycle demand something more. So, we now have the Event Trial.
The most obvious example of this phenomenon was the OJ Simpson fiasco, but it seems that every moderately titillating trial is now being forced into this mode. If no interest exists, it is manufactured, and if it does exist it is amplified beyond belief by the needs of CNN, Fox and others to have grist for their legal experts to mill.
The sad part is the degree to which the legal system cooperates. The OJ Circus and Lance Ito set the tone, taking a trial that should have taken about three weeks to an interminable length and an absurd result. Now we have Mr. Michael Jackson and a simple case of child molestation predicted to take 6 months. Whatever for? Who does this help? You can pass the Budget of the United States through the US Senate in less time.
Nor does it serve the cause of justice to allow this -- there is no reasonable set of facts that needs this level of presentation and dissection. There are few jurors that can be expected to focus on a case so full of distraction, digression, grandstanding and microscopic detail. One can only conclude that the needs of the media and the needs of the participants for access to that media is the driving force. Someone needs to rein this in, so that the process is returned to the pursuit of Justice rather than the pursuit of ratings and publicity.
One way to do this would be to ban cameras, but I suspect that won't fix it. Perhaps we need to sequester the judge and the lawyers instead of the jury and see if that speeds things up. Yeah, I know, won't happen. But Jeez!