Much has been written about Jesse Hollywood’s defense attorney and the unusual array of motions he filed in his client’s death penalty case. Members of the public and media have at times questioned James Blatt’s motives. They have scrutinized the manner in which he orchestrated getting prosecutor Ron Zonen thrown off the case. Some have called James Blatt a clever legal tactician. Others have called him a media hound. While still others have questioned the morality behind many of his legal manipulations of the case. Michael Mehas, for one, recognizes how smoothly Blatt played him like the unwitting fiddle. How the scribe believed from the very beginning that he would be the one taking charge of his meetings with the defense lawyer, getting the mother lode of all information for his story, and then moving on. Yet, it turned out to be Blatt––playing the guileless seducer––who turned the tables on Michael. By forging a delicate relationship with the filmmaker and nurturing that relationship through several months of intense meetings, Blatt was able to coax Michael into acknowledging what information he had in his possession. This ultimately led to…
Michael Mehas testifying for the first time on Wednesday, November 22, 2005, the day before Thanksgiving. From the beginning, Hollywood’s attorney had the author off balance while testifying about what materials he had received from Zonen––which was the only thing Mehas thought he was there to testify about. Suddenly, Blatt changed directions, sucker punching his witness with the true nature of the day’s business. He started questioning Michael about everyone the author had ever spoken to regarding the murder. Blatt wanted to hear everything the witnesses had told Michael during their interviews. He wanted to know about all the information Michael had gathered on Ben Markowitz. Blatt wanted all the information Mehas had gotten from everyone he had ever gotten information from. The author answered the questions, but when asked to turn over the actual tapes and notes from his interviews, he refused. From the witness stand, the red-faced witness told his inquisitor, “That’s my work product you’re talking about. And that’s going into my book.”
The judge then turned to the witness and ordered him to hand over all the notes and tapes from every witness he’d interviewed. Michael sat there, dumfounded. He qualified for no legal privilege. He either followed the court’s order––and turned everything over––or most probably would have ended up going to jail for contempt of court. Thus, the following Monday, Michael turned over every one of his notes and tapes. And he regretted every second of it. He regretted ever having talked to Jesse Hollywood’s lawyer.
Then he started hearing the rumblings again. This time about Blatt trying to get him back into court. That Hollywood’s attorney had questions as to whether the filmmaker had complied with the court’s previous order. Michael was again furious with the defense attorney. He felt he had bent over backwards to give Hollywood’s defense the information he had provided them with in the first place. If it wasn’t for the author, Blatt never would have been aware of what had transpired between Michael and Zonen. Michael had compliantly turned over to the court all of his interview notes and tapes, so what else did the guy want? It turned out, plenty.
To be continued….
