Paul Bernardo interview to hit the internet

[Nikita]

[url]http://news.aol.ca/article/Paul-Bernardo-Video-Will-Surface-on-Net-say-Experts/252763/[/url]

[QUOTE]TORONTO - Crown lawyers who are not opposed to televising segments of a recorded jailhouse interview with Paul Bernardo are in need of a reality check if they think an Ontario judge's order would keep the video off the Internet, experts say.

Lawyers for several media outlets are asking the court to make the video available for use on television and online, but the Crown wants to prevent the entire 31-minute video from being posted on the Internet for fear it would be misused by the public.

The Crown is not opposed to allowing media outlets to post those segments of the video that are used in news reports.

Superior Court Justice David McCombs told lawyers last week that he intends to grant media outlets some form of access to the video, but reserved until Tuesday his decision on whether there would be any limitations placed on its use.

However, experts say it would be futile to try and ban from the Internet a video that's broadcast on television.

"It will be online within seconds (of being broadcast)," said Internet and technology expert Rick Broadhead. "Trust me - it will be everywhere."

The technology to record from TV to computer is simple, cheap and easy to find, Broadhead said. All it takes is a cable connection and a TV tuner card, which allows a computer to function as a television. From there, recording, saving and posting to a video-sharing site like YouTube is simply a matter of a few clicks of the mouse, Broadhead said.

An even simpler method, although of a lower quality, would be to use a digital camera or cellphone to record the broadcast off the television screen, he added.

The reality is that once a video is available in one format, it can quickly be converted into almost any other format, Broadhead said.

"As soon as you make it available in any form, it will be all over the place," he said. "(The judge) can do what he can in the confines of his chambers, but the technology is going to outpace his ability to control where that video shows up."


Even if the video didn't make it online through the work of citizens, it's "paternalistic" to restrict its release to one medium, said Andrea Slane, executive director of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy at the University of Toronto.

"That means evaluating who counts as a legitimate news purveyor who can therefore be trusted with this type of information, and I think that distinction is getting harder and harder to make given that you have all these online sources," Slane said.

If Crown lawyers are concerned the video could influence the outcome of a future trial, they should reconsider allowing its release at all, said Daniel Burnett, a professor of media law at the University of British Columbia.

"Generally speaking, the courts are far too quick to jump to the conclusion that jurors will be influenced on things," Burnett said.

"I think jurors are far smarter than they are often given credit for in terms of judging things on the evidence before them."

The June 7, 2007, video interview shows police questioning Bernardo about the unsolved killing of student Elizabeth Bain, who vanished in 1990.

It was an exhibit at the trial of Robert Baltovich, which ended abruptly on April 22 after the prosecution said it had no reasonable prospect of conviction. Minutes later, a jury found Baltovich not guilty in the disappearance and death of Bain, his former girlfriend.

McCombs has described the video as more "boring" than "chilling."

Bernardo remains in prison on a life sentence for the murders of teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.[/QUOTE]

So, will you watch it?

[Shaner]

Probably not. I couldn't care less about this interview.

I don't think it should be released at all though. This is just hurting the families of the victims. They're forced to relive this whole situation every time his name is mentioned in the media, let alone seeing a video of him broadcast on all the news stations.

There's just no good reason for releasing this video. There's no reason the public needs to see it. Bernardo is behind bars and will be for life, and this other buy was found not-guilty at his trial. What possible reason is there for the public to see this video, when they can just as easily read about what's contained in the video?

[Nikita]

[QUOTE=Shaner;6937435]Probably not. I couldn't care less about this interview.

I don't think it should be released at all though. This is just hurting the families of the victims. They're forced to relive this whole situation every time his name is mentioned in the media, let alone seeing a video of him broadcast on all the news stations.

There's just no good reason for releasing this video. There's no reason the public needs to see it. Bernardo is behind bars and will be for life, and this other buy was found not-guilty at his trial. What possible reason is there for the public to see this video, when they can just as easily read about what's contained in the video?[/QUOTE]

Baltovich was acquitted after spending years in jail after a first conviction IIRC. Personally I strongly believe justice should be transparent, especially where this interview will form part of the evidence against Bernardo for this murder. Anything that is evidence in court is available to those who can actually go to court and watch it, it shouldn't be denied to those wish to see it but don't live in the area.

This trial won't involve the gruesome details of the Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French trials though. And though unfortunately it will be hell on earth for Elizabeth Bain's family, it's not likely the Mahaffy and French familes will have to relive the horrors of their daughter's deaths.

In any event, this particular interview is said to be 'more boring than chilling'. Since her body was never found so there's likely no comparison between the trials. It's a simple murder trial and as such I think it should be made available...if for no other reason that the old saying 'justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done'.

I've always felt deep sorrow (and deep anger when their bodies were found) for the families of these girls, but many many other familes have had to hear similar horrors inflicted on their loved ones, because that's the nature of a transparent justice system.

One other thing, if Bernardo is acquitted on this charge, we'll never know if it was because of evidence garnered through this interview. And if it is, we could probably draw the conclusion the Crown blew it by putting it into evidence. And we have the right to know if our system is screwing up.

[kleptodathief]

wow, how old is this focker now? even if he gets out, someone will kill him?

[GangStarr]

If it were released I'd probably just watch it for the heck of it. If media outlets are saying the footage is more "Boring then chilling" I would probably take their word for it.

Publication bans are fine while matters are in trial, however afterwards I truly believe things should be publicized. To use a cliche, Those who are ignorant of the past, are destined to repeat it.

[jcoltage]

someone needs to shank him already .... Willing to throw in some doe to anyone that can make it happen.

[UrbanPoet]

[QUOTE=kleptodathief;6938072]wow, how old is this focker now? even if he gets out, someone will kill him?[/QUOTE]

doubt anyone would kill him... but he'll definitely get death notes, and get smacked around a few times if he sees unruly characters @ night.

[Hunter316]

I am surprised that no one in prison has killed him yet. Sex offenders are usually at the bottom the prison hirarchy and he is the worst kind of sex offender. Someone will get him sooner or later. Its a shame that we don't have the death penalty here for people like him. Even if it costs more to execute them than to keep them in prison I think that would be money well spent.

[Phr3sh]

I would watch it...these type of interviews are usually pretty interesting

[hardcandy1911]

Y'all need to learn to forgive. He's doing the time what more do you want?

You think he's the only one of his kind? Killing and mutilization has existed for many years, especially rape. Why make him an example of what's been around for hundreds of years?


But people want revenge on a complete stranger who they ddont know, let alone not bother watching his interview or caring what he does.

[Ebola]

[QUOTE=Hunter316;6938685]I am surprised that no one in prison has killed him yet. Sex offenders are usually at the bottom the prison hirarchy and he is the worst kind of sex offender. Someone will get him sooner or later. Its a shame that we don't have the death penalty here for people like him. Even if it costs more to execute them than to keep them in prison I think that would be money well spent.[/QUOTE]

He was in the SHU, as a DO last I heard, so noone really gets close to him, and he has pretty much no contact with anyone except the CX's.

[pintobean]

[QUOTE=jcoltage;6938478]someone needs to shank him already .... Willing to throw in some doe to anyone that can make it happen.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Hunter316;6938685]I am surprised that no one in prison has killed him yet. Sex offenders are usually at the bottom the prison hirarchy and he is the worst kind of sex offender. Someone will get him sooner or later. Its a shame that we don't have the death penalty here for people like him. Even if it costs more to execute them than to keep them in prison I think that would be money well spent.[/QUOTE]
I highly doubt that any other prisoner will ever get close enough to Bernardo to kill him...he is caged away behind bars and plexiglas and rarely leaves his cell.

Here's an article I found from the Toronto Star:
[QUOTE][B]A visit to hell in Bernardo Wing[/B]
[SIZE="1"]Jun 21, 2005 09:17 AM
Nick Pron
staff reporter[/SIZE]

The sliding steel gate into hell opened slowly, and reluctantly I stepped into the closed world that is Paul Bernardo's home, and will be for the rest of his life.

Moments later, I was looking into the eyes of Canada's most notorious criminal. My heart filled with rage over what he had done. I had the overwhelming urge to scream at him.

While his former wife, Karla Homolka, will be a free woman in a few weeks — albeit hounded by the media — Bernardo will live out his life caged in a cell about the size of a walk-in closet.

How I came to be inside the Kingston Penitentiary that day is a story on its own.

A few days earlier, I had been out drinking with some buddies when one of them leaned over and whispered: "Would you like to see Paul Bernardo?"

"Of course," I replied, "but he's in jail."

"It can be arranged," said my friend.

The next morning I was standing at the front door of Kingston Penitentiary, on the shore of Lake Ontario. I had written about the institution many times, but had never been inside. That was about to change.

The door clanged shut behind me as I walked into the facility that was home to the country's worst criminals. There was not a wisp of fresh air inside the walls.

My tour took me first to the open range. As I craned my neck upwards and gawked at the rows of cells, I noticed that the receivers on the pay phones at the end of each floor were all off the hook. I was told that, if you wanted to use the phone, you first had to ask for permission from the inmate who controlled that particular floor. This was prison culture. But Bernardo would never be part of that closed society.

"Our guest of honour has his own special area," said my guide.

It was the ground floor wing for the worst of the worst, the sexual offenders who had to be housed by themselves for their own safety. Plexiglas across the bars in this area of the prison prevented other inmates from hurling objects at them. In prison culture, men who rape and kill children are considered the lowest of the low. Injuring them would be a badge of honour.

The gate to the "Bernardo Wing" suddenly opened and I stepped inside, albeit hesitantly.

The air inside was pungent with the rancid smell of caged men who are seldom allowed out of their cells.

As the gate clanged shut behind me, an inmate in the first cell jerked bolt upright from his bunk, pressing his face tight against the bars. His face was chalk white, his eyes wide as saucers, his gaze not of this world.

He stared at me, at times grinning, drool seeping from a corner of his mouth.

Opposite the cells was a bank of small television screens, two guards monitoring the activity in each cell via a closed circuit camera.

Extending upward from the floor and arching over the guards was a Plexiglas shield that ran the length of the range.

"Why the shield?" I naively inquired.

Just then, a stream of yellowish liquid came hurtling from one of the cells. "Duck," yelled my guide.

I dove for cover as the urine hit the shield and trickled harmlessly to the floor.

"That's why," said my guide, somewhat amused as I picked myself off the deck and looked upward at yet another white face peering down at me from the second row, grinning, his front teeth missing.

The shield was dotted with urine stains, spit, feces. Then came a second volley of yellow fluid. The two guards seated at the screens never even looked up. Such was life in this special section.

One of the inmates started yelling. "Forty-seven," he screamed. "Forty-seven," over and over again. His screams cut through the deathly silence of the range. My temples began throbbing in pain.

And then I saw him. A chill ran through my body.

Paul Bernardo, probably this country's most despised killer, was standing at the front of his second floor cell, glancing down at the wary visitor in the prison's most restricted zone.

Our eyes locked. His appearance was shocking. Gone was the smirk, the cockiness that was Bernardo's trademark. He was heavier, his features blowsy, his face white. The man who terrorized women for years in Scarborough, the monster who killed two teenagers in St. Catharines, the villain who stalked potential prey in Orlando, Fla., was safely behind bars. Hopefully forever.

At his trial, I sat three rows directly behind Bernardo in courtroom 6-1 on University Ave. Although I work the court beat, for years afterwards I couldn't bring myself to even venture into that courtroom for fear it would rekindle memories of that gruesome trial.

Even though he was shackled and watched closely by several guards during the trial, he still had that trademark smirk, that cocky attitude that somehow he was going to talk his way out of a lifetime sentence behind bars.

As his four-month trial dragged on in 1995 I began fantasizing about hurting the man who had hurt so many people. In my daydream, I would vault over the benches, grab him by the neck, throw him to the floor and give him a punch in the mouth for each of his victims. For good measure, I would throw in a couple of extra blows for myself.

Was I losing it, I wondered. The Star had brought in a counsellor to talk to those who were covering the trial and editing the copy. "I'm fine," I told her. I wasn't. One evening after court, when a group of reporters covering the trial gathered at a bar to drown our anguish in booze, I blurted out my fantasy.

To my surprise, several others had been thinking the exact same thing. Like me, they wanted their frontier-style justice. Such was the hatred for this evil creature staring down at me from his cage.

I thought about that as I looked back at him. I suddenly had the urge to yell at him, like two of his friends had done shortly after his arrest, standing outside the Metro East Detention centre and cursing at his cell.

But the words got stuck in my throat. His gaze was vacant, the cockiness long gone. My anger eased. He disappeared back into his cell. The moment passed. We continued the tour.

"People wanted him to rot in jail," I said, and my guide finished my thought: "I think they got their wish," he said.

"If you really want to experience what life is like right now for Mr. Bernardo," said my guide, "you have to go inside a cell."

We found an empty one, similar to the cage where Bernardo lives 23 hours a day, 365 days a year, getting out only for his daily bit of fresh air in a small, fenced-in compound, or showering twice a week, always watched.

The cell was tiny. If you want the same experience, step into a small walk-in closet and close the door. There was a bunk on one side, a toilet at the far end.

The cell was about three paces long, and about as wide as Bernardo's arm span. Claustrophobia set in immediately. I felt trapped, and thought of animals in the zoo in small cages, and how horrible must be their existence.

"I've had enough," I said, turning to leave, just as the bars behind me shut. "What are you doing?" I asked my guide, now my jailer, standing on the other side of freedom.

"You wanted the full experience," he said.

"But I didn't mean it," I pleaded, grabbing at the bars. They didn't budge.

I turned back into my new home. I shuddered. The throbbing in my head was now a pounding pain. A minute in a locked cage and the big, tough crime writer was on the verge of tears.

My guide fumbled through his pockets. "Oops," he said, "I may not have the key."

"I need to be out," I pleaded, as he searched his pockets. He was taking his time, enjoying the moment. I was terrified.

Finally, he found the key and I was freed.

My total time in captivity: a minute, 30 seconds. I vowed never to get so close to a story again.

"Someday — not now — but someday I want you to write about your little visit to Kingston," said my guide.

"Mr. Bernardo will live, grow old and die in there. He'll have plenty of time to think about his crimes. The public should know that each and every day for the rest of his life will not be pleasant."

The door to the prison shut behind us. I had my freedom. Bernardo never would.He was declared a dangerous offender, which allows the authorities to sentence him indefinitely to jail, pending regular reviews.

"Know what?" I said to my guide. "I would rather take a needle in the arm than live like that."

"Just be thankful," said my guide, "that we no longer have capital punishment in this country."[/QUOTE]

[robertalan]

The media just can't resist selling ad space on this guy's notoriety - and worse the public eats it up.

It should indeed be transparent, but relegated to a short article on page 123 of the paper.

[Nikita]

Hmm, I actually found that article oddly refreshing....yet disturbing at the same time (the one posted by pintobean).

[gretzky99]

[QUOTE=robertalan;6939501]The media just can't resist selling ad space on this guy's notoriety - and worse the public eats it up.

It should indeed be transparent, but relegated to a short article on page 123 of the paper.[/QUOTE]

+1

I'm too busy catching up on O.J. Simpson interviews so I can't be bothered to watch the latest Bernardo interview. Instead I'll wait for when the next book and movie on Bernardo's life comes out to get my fix. :rolleyes: