perhaps you remember that last fall i attended the murder trial of robert petrick. his wife, janine --the victim-- was an acquaintence of mine.
the trial got a lot of media attention, both locally and nationally. there was a reporter from NBC in the courtroom every day, in fact, gathering footage for a "dateline nbc" special.
the trial is long over, of course, but the dateline episode is finally airing this weekend.
here's the blurb from the dateline website:
Saturday, June 3, 8 p.m.the reporter assured us that, despite the sensationalized previews that are airing right now, the episode itself will be more balanced. the producers say they took care to try to depict who janine was, what she was like, her love of music, etc.
One cold winter night, a beloved member of a close-knit community goes missing. Was she abducted? Murdered? Did she run away? Troubling details of a double life and hidden secrets soon emerge, and a defendant makes a fateful, surprising decision. Hoda Kotb reports on an unusually riveting courtroom drama.
janine's family and friends were consulted (to a degree) during the editing process and participated by submitting photos and video. her sons figured "NBC is going to do the story either way; we'd rather have some input and hope that it gets used well."
let's pray they were right.
Posted by xta at June 2, 2006 12:01 AM | TrackBackNot that it's germaine at all to the topic, but I went to college with Hoda Kotb. We were more acquaintances than friends, though, and honestly the biggest reason I remember her is because who forgets someone with a name like Hoda Kotb? She was very nice, but very ambitious ... unlike me.
Posted by: lisa b at June 2, 2006 07:04 AMYour entry made me set my DVR - I watched it yesterday. What did you think? I thought the bullet-hole effects were tacky (in the opening and whenever they came back from commercial) but it seemed to paint a very warm picture of Janine, and my heart just broke for her sons.
Posted by: pinky at June 5, 2006 10:35 AMyeah, i couldn't figure out the bullet holes, either. it's like they just recycled a graphic they'd used previously or something. guns didn't play into this case at all.
aside from that, though, i feel like they did a pretty good job of portraying the case, and were certainly sensitive (as promised) to janine's memory. the show was difficult for me to watch in many ways, of course, and i found it frustrating to have been witness to the proceedings in court and not see all of that detail presented in the broadcast. i knew they wouldn't be able to tell everything, but there's so much more damning evidence that could have made it into the program that was just left aside due to time constraints.
that said, here's the "producer's blog":
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12994013/#060602b
josh is the NBC reporter who was in the courtroom every day and was sympathetic and friendly to janine's loved ones. i wish he could have hosted the segment himself...
Posted by: christa at June 5, 2006 01:22 PMChrista, I kept looking for you in the courtroom scenes, and when everyone went outside to look at his Miata.
I thought it was pretty well done as well, for Dateline anyway--the sensationalism was kept in check.
Posted by: minty at June 5, 2006 10:15 PMi think i saw myself (or at least my hair) in one courtroom scene. i sat in the same place each day (out of standard camera range), so when they showed an alternate view i knew exactly where to look for me. it was too quick a shot to be certain, though.
and i'm pretty sure i saw my legs in the outdoor miata scene, too.
woo.
Posted by: christa at June 6, 2006 12:19 AM