Letters to the Editor : A Remarkable Trial

I have been paying careful attention to the media coverage of the Roger Hedgecock criminal trial daily in both the newspapers and on radio and television. And each day my amazement grows as more and more the news accounts are dominated not by the facts presented in the public trial but by the remarkable characterizations of those facts trumpeted by both Hedgecock and his attorney, Michael Pancer, during recess and after adjournment.

I use the work “remarkable” because both the mayor and his mouthpiece are engaged in a public relations war, and truth, honesty and the public’s right to know the facts seem to be the losers.

More and more I understand why Hedgecock hired Pancer. Why, the two are perfectly symbiotic! Two suits cut from the same bolt of cloth. If they lose a motion they call it a victory. If the district attorney’s witness is damaging to Hedgecock they say the testimony hurt the D.A.’s case. And so on.

I have listened to Hedgecock croon this song for years. Call black white, and vice versa--and never admit to gray under any circumstances.

This is sociopathic behavior, as I see it, and in the end it will catch up with itself and with those who practice it.

JACK WILSON

San Diego