Posterior Restraint: A Courthouse Comp for VIPs?

FREE PRESS -- If the courtroom bailiffs in Las Vegas are going to lock reporters in after a hearing so they can't chase a departing VIP party for interviews, let's not treat this as a constitutional crisis, writes Brendan Buhler in the Las Vegas Sun. Let's offer it as another benefit of the secrecy hospitality of the town that reassures visitors, "What happens here stays here."

Showing an unprecedented level of creative initiative, the bailiffs at Clark County Family Court have launched a new tourism and job creation initiative: VIP justice.

This exciting strategy was unveiled Monday at a hearing to decide whether to toss Michael Jackson’s deathbed doctor in jail for failing to pay 15 grand in child support. Not only did the doctor get to skip jail and forget about the money, but an armed bailiff was so solicitous as to adopt the role of the doctor’s private security guard and keep a dozen or so reporters trapped in the courtroom until the doctor was out of the building and safe from questions.

Since then, it’s been a mess. Reporters, editors and pundits are howling about the First Amendment and even the Fourth, the Family Court is hemming and hawing, the bailiffs have gone mute and for some reason no one can call this what it is: A great way to steal business from California.

Specifically, the headliner crime business.

Just think of it: Every year in the Los Angeles area, celebrities and other newsmakers are arrested, charged and tried, all in a swirl of media coverage and quick-buck merchandising. But there is, alas, a dark side to this industry: The celebrities involved are often treated like criminals and sometimes wind up in jail.

If it isn’t careful, Los Angeles is going to lose its crime business just as it’s losing film production to Canada and Eastern Europe. No doubt agents and defense attorneys are already wondering if they could do better for their clients somewhere else.

And here we have just sent the famous a message: If you have to make a court appearance in Vegas, at least you’ll know you won’t have to worry about the paparazzi. They’ll be corralled in the courtroom at no cost to you, the taxpayers’ valued guests.

The timing is, for us, perfect. If Las Vegas’ economy gets any worse, we’ll have to rename the city West Detroit. We need a new business, this business. And our pitch is clear: Celebrities, justice doesn’t have to happen to you here.