I was glad to have retired Judge Gino DiVito’s July 30 commentary as to how our appellate judicial system works. He is correct when he says that the appellate court hears no witnesses, receives no evidence and must make its decision based only on the written record of the proceedings before the trial court and on the applicable rules of law.
Columnist Bob Greene, on the other hand, talks with all kinds of folks, outside of court, without the benefit of legal rules of evidence as to reliability of testimony. He then reaches his own emotional judgment as to the “right” or “wrong” of the case, and begins his series of columns condemning any judge who has decided contrary to Greene’s view of the matter.
In the “Baby Joe” case, Greene lit on Justice James D. Heiple at the start and began referring incessantly to the “Heiple-led panel” and the “opinion written by Judge Heiple.” Why doesn’t he tell us that the appellate court deliberated and came to its decision–and then selected Heiple to write the opinion for the court? That’s all there is to it.
Actually what we have here is a journalist who has been given his own column and has become the world’s greatest practitioner of vendetta journalism. Woe be unto anyone who crosses his path.
