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Got video? Got a better controversy

What a difference a video can make.

By ERIC DEGGANS
Published November 24, 2005

At least, that's what attorney John Trevena is discovering, as he tries to interest the national media in his latest legal crusade.

When he was representing Inga Akins, whose 5-year-old daughter was handcuffed by police after an outburst in school last March, he released a videotape of the incident, and the national media attention came pouring in. Outlets ranging from ABC's Good Morning America to Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor featured the story, along with footage of Akins' daughter weeping as the cuffs were placed on her.

But Trevena has faced a tougher time sparking national exposure for Jean Claude Meus, a former trucker convicted on two counts of vehicular homicide in Hardee County following a crash that killed a 40-year-old woman and her daughter. Now serving a 15-year sentence, Meus has enlisted support from two sisters of the woman he killed to argue that his sentence was excessive.

Trevena, who didn't represent Meus in his original trial or appeal, has compared his client's sentence to that of Jennifer Porter - the 29-year-old former elementary school dance teacher given three years of probation, two years of house arrest and 500 hours of community service after leaving the scene of a car accident in which she struck two children, who died.

Meus, a Haitian immigrant, is black. Porter, who is part Cuban, is widely perceived to be white. And for Trevena, that is the heart of the issue.

"There's such an indifference . . . It's hard to get people interested in the civil rights movement anymore," said Trevena, who has talked with producers at CNN, Inside Edition and CBS's The Early Show, but so far only seen Geraldo Rivera's syndicated news show Geraldo At Large tackle his case on the national level. "With the handcuffing of the 5-year-old, everybody wanted that video as fast as they could get it. But it's the day-to-day racism which occurs and no one cares to address it."

Prosecutors accused Meus of falling asleep at the wheel and causing the accident. But the former trucker denied the allegations, saying he remained at the scene and cooperated with police during their investigation.

At Large producers developed their story on Meus working with Doug Smith, an investigative reporter at Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT-Ch. 13, who was tipped by Trevena and had already presented the story on his station. Aired a week ago, the At Large story began with footage of Porter, suggesting that Meus may have faced tougher charges and received a stiffer sentence because of his race and lack of wealth.

"Race is a big deal for Geraldo . . . He felt this story synthesized the issue uniquely," said Nancy Duffy, executive producer at the show, a newly established program that seems to lean heavily on affiliate stations to provide material. "It wasn't a drunk driving incident, (Meus) didn't have a record . . . It's all these details which stood out. It seemed to be an extreme sentence."

Producers and executives from CBS News, CNN and Inside Edition either failed to return calls for comment or declined to comment on the Meus case. And though she was unable to speculate on why national TV news outlets might not cover any specific case, former ABC and CBS News investigative reporter Roberta Baskin said changing economics have made newsmagazines focus less on the poor and economic justice issues.

"They're looking at how to keep people from hitting the remote control," said Baskin, now executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit group that conducts investigative journalism projects and provides the results for free to media outlets worldwide. "There's a tremendous resistance to doing stories about low-income people, because those are not attractive demographics (to advertisers)."

Meus' case has also drawn the attention of Al Sharpton aide the Rev. Jarett B. Maupin, national youth director of Sharpton's National Action Network, who plans to join Trevena in petitioning Gov. Jeb Bush to pardon Meus.

Maupin compared Meus and Porter's cases to William Thornton IV, a black teenager with no previous criminal record who received a 30-year sentence following a car accident in which he ran a stop sign while speeding in Citrus County, killing two people.

"If these gentlemen had been white, the verdict would have been different," said Maupin, echoing comments he made Nov. 16 in an interview with Rivera. "If they would have had better attorneys, they might have served lighter sentences. When you compare those two cases to individuals like Jennifer Porter, you have to wonder whether the court system in Florida is truly fair . . . to minorities or poor people."

But even some who are concerned about the issue of fair sentencing are wary of drawing strident activists such as Sharpton and Maupin into the debate.

Curtis Stokes, vice president of Hillsborough County's NAACP chapter, helped organize a Nov. 14 press conference to announce efforts by Tampa Bay area NAACP chapters to track court cases and watch for signs of unequal treatment.

Seven cameras from an array of local media outlets captured the scene, which drew a small crowd packed in the Hillsborough County chapter's small Tampa offices. But Stokes and his fellow officials at the NAACP were careful to avoid heated rhetoric - an approach that may have kept them from drawing more national attention.

"If we would have been out there throwing rocks and bottles, maybe we would have gotten more attention," Stokes said. "I think it is unfortunate what happened to Mr. Meus . . . But bringing in national figures to polarize the situation, I think is the wrong road to go down. Appealing to reason . . . that's not considered sexy."

A representative for the office that prosecuted Meus warned against trying to compare his situation to Porter's - noting she was not charged with vehicular homicide and negotiated a plea deal in which she could only be sentenced to a maximum three years in jail.

"What the judge did in (Meus') case was not out of the ordinary for that type of case - particularly where two people die," said Chip Thullbery, spokesman for the State's Attorney's Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit - noting Meus' 15-year sentence was below the 181/2-year minimum mandated by sentencing guidelines. "There are a lot of people out there being convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to prison. Why this particular case has attracted attention, I cannot tell you."

Absent a shocking video and widespread community protest, Trevena is left to wonder why he can't get more national notice.

"If the Porter case wasn't there to make the comparison, there would be little interest in Meus or Thornton," he said. "We have to have this comparison to the white defendants to get attention to the injustices."

- Eric Deggans can be reached at 727 893-8521 or deggans@sptimes.com See his blog at www.sptimesphotos.com/blogs/media

[Last modified November 22, 2005, 15:53:34]