Tuesday

The Value of Celebrity

A woman who had been serving a life sentence without parole because her burglary accomplice gunned down a police officer could be free in 12 years under a plea bargain announced Monday.

Lisl Auman, who was handcuffed in the back of a police car when officer Bruce VanderJagt was killed, was convicted of murder and other charges in 1998. But the Colorado Supreme Court overturned her conviction in March.

"While appealing her conviction, Auman had won support from the late writer Hunter S. Thompson, the late singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, and actors Sean Penn, Benecio Del Toro and Johnny Depp."

Oh now I understand. The stars liked her.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"The Value of Celebrity" in this case is that it directed a bright light into the dark corners of a draconian law. It it also helped balanced the scales that were heavily tipped against Lisl Auman by the fact a police officer was murdered and the person directly responsible killed himself. That made her the killer by proxy, which of course carries its own celebrity status.

We should all be thankful that the stars did in fact like her, because it kept the focus on justice rather than vengeance. The problem isn't that celebrities drew attention to this case, but that too many other cases don't get celebrity (and therefore media) attention.