Galling Criticism of Marcia Clark

Re Tina Rasnow’s comment quoted in Kate Folmar’s article on Marcia Clark’s lecture in the Ventura County edition on Nov. 15.

Tina Rasnow certainly has the right to voice her opinion on her own behalf. However, to make a comment which could only be construed as having been made on behalf of all lawyers (let alone such a derogatory one about the competency of Marcia Clark) was, to say the least, offensively presumptuous. As an attorney who was in the audience during Marcia Clark’s lecture Nov. 14 in Ventura County, I do not agree with Ms. Rasnow’s blanket comment that “we [lawyers] think she [Marcia Clark] is pretty inept.”

I would not presume to describe an extremely experienced trial lawyer with a career chock-full of successful criminal convictions culminating in her appointment as lead prosecutor on the O.J. Simpson case, the most high-profile trial in California since the Manson trial in the early ‘70s, in such patently absurd terms.

I am knowledgeable, as Ms. Rasnow should also be, of what it takes to achieve such illustrious accomplishments. Pretty inept? Pretty galling.

SANDRA COFFEY

Ventura

* Having attended the Marcia Clark lecture with my husband at the Civic Arts Plaza, I find myself compelled to respond to writer Kate Folmar’s closing comment.

The paragraph went as follows: “Maybe lay people look at her as an advocate for the rights of battered women, but we look at her as pretty inept,” said Tina Rasnow, who did not attend.

Who is Tina Rasnow? Why is she being asked about Ms. Clark if she wasn’t in attendance? And who is she referring to when she declares we look at her as pretty inept?

I found Ms. Clark’s candidness and honesty to be a pleasant surprise, as were her clarity of thought and personal communication skills, making her a most engaging lecturer.

K. DE BRAUWERE

Carpinteria