4 Columns<strong>VIRGINIA</strong> <strong>LAW</strong> <strong>WEEKLY</strong>Friday, 5 October 2007I like having fun as much as thenext gal. I mean, why else do youthink I ended up at UVA? It’s notStefanie Kim ’08Columnistbecause I found aone-bedroom for$500 a month.Nor is it becausemy aunt lives really close to Dullesand lets me leave my car in her garageover the summer. And it’s certainlynot because Harvard abandonedme in the purgatory of falsehope that is their wait list. I camehere because people described itas “laid back” and “anti-intellectual”and “a frat party.” After fouryears of literature classes in whichpeople would inexplicably put parenthesesin the middle of w(or)ds,and use the phrase “thingness” todescribe . . . well, things, I decidedI’d had enough snooty pretensionto last me a lifetime.And I’ll be damned if UVA Lawdidn’t deliver on that promise.Here I’ve found openly expressedskepticism toward those who claimto find subject matter jurisdiction“interesting.” There are not-sosubtleglares directed at studentswho actually want to learn outsidethe confines of class time and seemto think that there’s nothing wrongwith asking questions during LaptopClosing Time—or even worse,who feel that it’s appropriate to tellThe three Duke lacrosse playersaccused of rape last year (the “DukeThree”) and the six young menAndy Howlett ’10Columnistfrom Jena, Louisianawho are beingprosecutedfor their role ina schoolyardfight (the now famous “Jena Six”)are from the most different backgroundsimaginable, yet they haveone thing in common. The mostvexing issue for both parties wasn’ta question of guilt or innocence, butrather one of criminal procedure. Itwasn’t so much the impending judgmentitself, but rather, der Process,as Franz Kafka would have put it,that eventually turned lives upsidedown,subverted reasonable andconventional notions of justice, andthreatened to serve the defendantswith categorically unfair results.I am not suggesting that the factsof the two cases are substantially thesame—they are, of course, quite different.The Duke Three were whitelacrosse players harpooned andrace-baited by an overzealous DA onevidence that was circumstantial atbest. And it was a different type ofrace-baiting, overzealous DA thatrailroaded the all-black Jena Six ontrumped up charges involving thebeating up of a white student in anevent that must be seen as one in aseries of racial incidents to whichthe local government expressedgrossly uneven responses.Thus, some might argue, therecannot be any meaningful comparisonbetween the two cases becauseof a fundamental difference at thefactual level: the Duke Three werecompletely innocent, whereas itseems reasonably clear that the JenaSix were guilty of something (though,hopefully, not the second-degree attemptedmurder with which theywere originally charged). But, actually,looking the right way at theJena Six and the Duke Three tells us3L + Library = Utter, Utter Chaospersonal anecdotes in class, effectivelycutting into time that couldbe better spent under the dusky barlights at Buddhist.When I’m not beating up peoplewho have infuriatingly preservedthe ability to care about things, I doa lot of pondering. In the past coupleof weeks, as I have observed myfellow 3Ls golfing, drinking, andtanning, I can’t help but wonderwhether the easygoing vibe here isa reflection of harmless intellectualapathy, or of something much moresinister. Maybe we aren’t that laidback. Maybe we’re just desperate toappear that way, and threatened bythose who aren’t.Take, for example, the fact that Istill read for class. I know, and that’snot all. The reason I read for class isbecause I still go to class. Yes, I’m a3L with a job offer, and that’s notthe craziest part—I read for classin the LIBRARY. Maybe this doesn’tsound like that big of a deal. Afterall, on any given night you can finda number of future lawyers dutifullystudying the intricacies of the taxcode, and even some undergradsdutifully studying the intricacies ofI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.(It’s funny to make fun of them becausethey don’t read law books!)But stick a 3L in the stacks, and allhell breaks loose.What are you doing in the library,your fully mellowed outpeers demand to know. Why aren’tThe Duke Three and the Jena Six: A Picture of the American Criminal Justice Systema lot about the criminal justice systemin America, particularly that theaccused’s access to justice—in thebroadest sense of the word—still dependstoo greatly on where he lives,how much money he has, and, ofcourse, the color of his skin.Take the Duke Three. A high-profilecase from the minute that theCrystal Mangum lodged the falserape accusation, there was, predictably,public outrage, racial tension,and a media frenzy, which all camestacked against the Duke Three. Asa result, these three young men hadtheir lives turned upside down, theirreputations sullied, and their futuresthrown into doubt.But the defendants were in a positionnot only to give themselvesthe best possible defense againstthe fraudulent charges, but also toeffect a massive shift in the publicperception. A crack legal team wasassembled at great financial cost.One of the best was the late KirkOsborne, a high profile criminal defenseattorney who wasted no timein asserting an aggressive defenseon behalf of Reade Seligmann (oneof the Duke Three), correctly impugningDA Mike Nifong as a votegrabbingopportunist attacking thelacrosse players with fraudulent evidenceand trumped-up charges. Justas important, Osborne audaciouslymade Seligmann’s defense public,which played a key role in winningthe media battle. These successescannot completely alleviate whatthe criminal process did to the boys,but go a long way towards thatend: the charges against them weredropped and the Duke Three have sofar initiated two civil suits for damagesresulting from the false accusations,one against Duke, which wassettled, and one against the City ofDurham, which will likely be settledsoon.)By contrast there was, until recently,fairly little media coverageof the Jena Six case. Due to spaceconstraints, I will not go into the circumstancesthat led up to six youngyou golfing and drinking and tanning?I use this pitching wedge toopen bottles of beer, and also toapply Banana Boat between myshoulder blades. There is a senseof urgency in their voices, a jaggeddesperation.Now I am beginning to understand.It’s not that we are naturallydrawn to a laidback environment,but rather that we force each otherto conform to a “play hard and forthe love of God hide the fact thatyou actually do work” agenda. Oh,you didn’t read at all and you weredrunk during finals and now fourfirms want you to start as a thirdyear associate? How weird. Hmm,that is so weird. The incongruityof these facts is forcing me to drawthe conclusion that not only areyou brilliant, you are also totallychill.Why is it that everyone else getsso riled up seeing me in the library?I’m okay with the fact that I like tomaintain the semblance of beinga student, if only to imbue my lifewith a deluded sense of structureand meaning. But strangely, theyare not. Why do they get so upsetupon discovering that I’ve goneahead and removed the shrinkwrapfrom my books? Is it becausethey’re worried I may want toswitch classes later, only to findmyself trapped by the shrinkwrapprovisions of the bookstore returnpolicy? Perhaps. But unlikely.black men getting into a scufflewith one of their white classmates,though the context is, undoubtedly,significant. For our purposes,though, what really matters is derProcess leveled against the Jena Six.The initial charge of second-degreeattempted murder was onlyslightly more ridiculous than thecharges that the DA, John Walters,settled on, including aggravatedsecond-degree battery, which requiresthe use of a “deadly weapon.”Walters argued that sneakers thatMychal Bell, one of the defendants,whose conviction was recently overturnedon a technicality, was wearingconstituted such a weapon. Forsome baffling reason his court-appointedpublic defender, who apparentlywas urging Bell to acceptplea bargains throughout the trialand called no witnesses, did little todispute the argument. The jury acceptedthis rationale and convictedBell.Of course, now there is a gooddeal of public outrage over the JenaSix, and Bell has gotten new lawyersthat were able to vacate the judgment.He awaits retrial; this timeas a juvenile. In the meantime, fourother members of the Jena Six stillface aggravated second-degree batterycharges. The scary thing, ofcourse, is the prospect that the Jenaincidents aren’t an anomaly, butrather just the most apparent exampleof the power that vestiges of JimCrow and separate but equal accessto the law still hold in the AmericanSouth.Why, then, were the Duke lacrosseplayers able to succeed in their legalstruggle? Because they were innocent?Only partially. It’s also becausethey the means to defend themselves.By contrast, why, recent developmentsaside, have the Jena Sixhad such little luck? Because theylacked the same means. If Bell andthe rest of the Jena Six could havehad Osborne as a lawyer, is thereany real doubt that they would allbe getting the equal justice that theyIt’s time we cast off the shacklesof secret studying and embraceour collective neuroses. Who caresif you still care? Who cares if youdon’t? Let us come together in harmony,and stop forcing each otherdeserved? Conversely, if Seligmannhad enjoyed the services of Bell’spublic defender, who can say that hewouldn’t be sitting in a North Carolinastate penitentiary right now?One of the reasons that I wrotethis column was as a sort of responseto my conservative friends who werequick to point out what they believethe main lesson of the two casesviewed in tandem ought to be: politicalcorrectness first cutting againstthe innocent Duke Three and thenphoto courtesy of Alison Mueller ’09The hallowed halls of Arthur J. Morris Law Library.to abide by unspoken codes of pretendapathy. If printing out a syllabushelps to assuage my CatholicAsian overachiever guilt, thenWBLab2, here I come.Email: sk3yp@virginia.eduphotos courtesy of wikipedia.org and newsobserver.comAbove: Al Sharpton leads protesters marching in Jena, Louisiana.Below: David Evans speaks before a crowd in Durham, North Carolina.in favor, now, at least, of the guilty(of something) Jena Six. The truthis that the real difference is themeans to defend oneself in bothcases. It’s something that the DukeThree—privileged, well-connected,and white—had, and that the JenaSix—poor, initially ignored, andblack—didn’t. It is a distinction thatspeaks volumes about equality underthe law and the criminal justicesystem in America today.Email: ah8gu@virginia.edu
Friday, 5 October 2007Ryan Dougherty ’09Associate Reviews EditorWhile many of us go to Washington,D.C. to visit friends, family,and firms, this fall there are threeother very good reasons to makethe trek. All three are located in oneplace conveniently adjacent to theWhite House. This fall the CorcoranGallery of Art is hosting threegreat exhibitions, which is quitean accomplishment for a museumthat is often overlooked because itis not part of the Smithsonian.Located at 17th and E Streets,the Corcoran, which also housesan art school, is actually the oldestmuseum in the city. Recently in thenews more for its funding troublesthan for its exhibitions, this fall’sslate of shows should put the museumback on the map.The first show, Ansel Adams, isopen now, convenient for thoseheading to D.C. over Fall Break.Known primarily for his black andwhite photographs of the westernAmerican landscape, Adams is perhapsthe most famous Americanphotographer thanks to the vastnumber of posters, calendars, andcoffee-table books that include hisworks. The opportunity to see somany of his works in person andin one place should not be missed.Here, we can see what is so oftenmissed in the poster and calendarreproductions of his photographs:the size and scale of the finishedphotographs as Adams originallyintended.I saw an earlier incarnation ofthis show at the Museum of ModernArt and was struck by the rangeof his work. While I was impressedby the expected photographs ofYosemite National Park and barrendesert cemeteries, I also saw theunexpected, such as a New Yorkcityscape and a delicate, crystallinetree covered in a winter frost.Like many other popular artists,such as Dali, Monet and Van Gogh,there is much more to Adams thanpretty calendars. This show is thechance to see this Ansel Adams.While Adams is no doubt themost popular American landscapephotographer, Annie Leibovitz isprobably the best-known Americanportrait photographer. Openingon October 13, Annie Leibovitz:A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005 isthe sequel to the 1991 show thatfocused on her career from 1970-1990. As an acclaimed portraitist,Leibovitz is able to add somethingspecial to her photographs of eventhe most ubiquitous celebrities. Indeed,this is the special gift of theportrait photographer.However, what struck me fromthe catalog was the intensely personalside of this show. Leibovitzhas photographed the most famouspeople in the world, but theshow also focuses on intimate portraitsof herself,her family, andher recently deceasedpartner,Susan Sontag.N e v e r t h e l e s s ,what will attractmost visitorsare Leibovitz’sportraits of celebritiesoften inartistic, yet intimateposes, likeher famous photographof JohnLennon and YokoOno lying nakedin bed.Perhaps themost interestingparts of going tothis show will bethe opportunitiesto compare andcontrast it withthe Adams show,and to considerthe challengesthat faced these<strong>VIRGINIA</strong> <strong>LAW</strong> <strong>WEEKLY</strong> Reviews 5Something Else to Do in D.C. During Your Callbackphoto courtesy of anseladams.comAnsel Adams, "Monolith: The Face of Half Dome"two photographers who chose suchdifferent subjects. While Adams isknown for his precision and dedicationto finding the shot, Leibovitzis almost the opposite in her abilityto make celebrities feel comfortableand disarmed in front of hercamera, thus giving many of herphotographs a feel of spontaneity.Regardless of which approach onefinds more attractive, this is a singularopportunity to see both artistsin one place at one time.Although the Adams and Leibovtizexhibitions stand as celebrationsof these two artists, thethird show—Wild Choir: CinematicPortraits by Jeremy Blake—is moretragic. Blake, a young video artist,recently took his own life in NewYork just one week after his longtimegirlfriend did the same. Thisshow, which opens on October 27and was planned well in advanceof the artist’s death, is now a posthumoustribute to an artist whowas just reaching his peak.In addition to critical successin the art world, Blake had alsoachieved popular success. He designedan album cover for Beckand the opening sequence for theAdam Sandler film Punch DrunkLove. Although he produced a fewseries of abstract paintings, he isbest known for the videos he madefor plasma-screen televisions. Earlyin his career these works werecompletely abstract: vividly coloredforms moving and morphingover a long period of time. Takingadvantage of the fact that plasmatelevisions can hang on the walllike paintings, these works weredesigned to be moving paintings.His later works, however, becamemore narrative and blendedthe abstract with representationalimages, like photographs, intovideo collages. For example, hisReading Ossie Clark depicts the tormentedlife and times of the Britishfashion designer using Blake’s abstractdesigns, words from Clark’sdiary, and an assortment of otherimages that correspond to excerptsphoto courtesy of jssgallery.orgWashington’s Corcoran Gallery hosts temporary exhibits and boasts an impressive permanent collection.from his diary that are read aloudby a female narrator.Although I am not really a fanof contemporary forms of art likevideo, Blake’s work mixes abstractpainting with video in a trulyunique way that captivates me.This show should give us the opportunityto see several of his mostpopular works, and a chance to reflecton what could have been.In all, the Corcoran Gallery ofArt gives us a look into the worksof three very different artists.Whatever the viewer’s preferences,one is sure to find something thatpleases. At less than two hoursaway, this is great opportunity tosee a number of exhibits that maynot be this accessible for sometime.Do you like to eat, drink, listen to music, watch movies, and goto local events?Do you think your opinion is more important than your peers’?If so, then write for Law Weekly Reviews.We need reviewers to write on any number of different areas ofinterest to the Law School community.If interested, e-mail lawweeklyreviews@gmail.com.Title SummaryProCon GradeC’ville EventMarket Value Competition;Friday October5, 5:30-8:30; www.marketvaluecompetition.orgThe City of Charlottesville has sponsoreda competition for innovative plansto develop the two surface parking lotson Water Street just south of the DowntownMall. The competition openedin late June and will culminate withawards and a reception at the CharlottesvilleCommunity Design Center (101E. Main Street).C’ville is brimming with architects,making this a greatopporutinty to meet some ofour city’s professionals andlearn about the mixed-use andsustainable design conceptsthat have started to receive awarm embrace from traditionalbuilders. The projects willbe unveiled at a “reception,”which implies the availabilityof cocktails.The Friday before fall breakis tough but the entries willbe on display until October29. Also, Architecture Peoplemake the Book People fromlast spring look downrightmainstream. Bring your plasticframe glasses, black turtleneck,and this month’s copyof Dwell magazine to blend inwith the creative types.ASportsMLB League ChampionshipSeries; startingThursday, October11; TBS and FOXThe Division Series winners matchup for the right to advance to the WorldSeries. The Yankees-Indians winnerwill take on the Red Sox-Angels winnerin the ALCS. The NLCS will feature theCubs-Diamondbacks winner against eitherthe Rockies or Phillies. The Mets, ifyou haven’t heard, will be at home.This year’s possible entrantsbring great stories. Can the Rockiessustain their stretch of .900baseball long enough to reachthe World Series? Will the Cubswin their first NL pennant since1945? Will the Red Sox recoverfrom their late season swoon?Can A-Rod join Peyton Manningin shaking off terrible post-seasonperformances of years past?Playoff baseball takes forever,with teams treating eachpitching conference like a nucleardisarmament talk. Withgames usually starting after8pm, expect to stay up pastmidnight to watch the conclusionof several games. If theCubs and Red Sox advance,expect the Fox Hype Machineto enter hyperdrive.B
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