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Note to Gary Condit: Our bad!

By Mark Obbie

If today's news about the Chandra Levy case proves true, and D.C. police charge the suspect identified in last summer's Washington Post series that I praised here, then a few legal-reporting reminders are in order:1. Former Rep. Gary Condit's experience at the hands of police and journalists should join the Hall of False-Accusation Shame. Remember the frenzy surrounding the congressman, and the casual assumptions of guilt that many made because he lied about an affair? 2. The Post's critics last summer -- accusing the paper of exploiting a tabloid case that lacked news value -- are proven wrong. Not only was it a good read, but it was prescient. 3. But that means only that the investigation was not closed, and that there is enough evidence to charge a new suspect -- not that the police are right this time. Let's not do it again. Of course, the case never would have been such a sensation if an illegal immigrant were the suspect all along. Which is yet another unpleasant reminder about what constitutes news -- and what doesn't.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on February 21, 2009 (boomark / email).