Your monthly reminder that I hate Nancy Grace

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Nancy Grace. You all know by now that I don't just think she's a shrill, insensitive jerk, but that she's a disgrace to the criminal justice system and a horrible person to boot. While watching her show puts me at grave risk for a stroke, I do sometimes check in on her just to see how massively she's prejudicing the nationally-followed criminal defendant du jour. But this one I just stumbled upon while I was doing my daily round at the celebrity gossip sites.

Ugh, she's so awful! I don't pretend to know all that much about the Jodi Arias case. I have not followed it the way Nancy Grace's mindless fans undoubtedly have. I definitely have not put as much time into it as Nancy herself has. I know the basic claims of each side and frankly have no opinion because I'm not on the jury and don't know enough. But I do know that Nancy Grace is once again proving that she does not deserve that name. Talk about graceless.

So she's mad that Jodi Arias has access to peanut butter in jail? And pretty edible peanut butter at that. (Let's be honest, Nancy. Even cheap peanut butter tastes pretty good. It's one of those foods that's hard to make unpleasant.) Her poor victim (she definitely killed a guy, the question is whether it was premeditated murder or self-defense) would LOVE to eat a peanut butter sandwich, says Nancy! It's a total outrage that Jodi gets to eat peanut butter! Of course, by that logic, the victim would love to be able to take oxygen  into his lungs, as well, so Nancy should be similarly outraged that the jail allows Jodi access to oxygen.

The complaints go on that Jodi is allowed to take Spanish classes, watch t.v., play cards, and, horror of horrors, go outside! As if there is a jail or prison in this country where the inmates aren't required to have access to the outdoors for at least a short period of time on a regular basis. As if having access to t.v., study materials, playing cards, or other pass times is so unusual. The very first people who would complain about inmates losing access to these things are the corrections officials themselves. Do you know what a dangerous place jail would be if all the inmates were denied t.v., cards, books, etc., and were therefore bored to tears? Having been a prosecutor and having involved herself in criminal justice for so long, I would expect Nancy to have a better understanding of the realities of jail safety. Letting inmates watch t.v. doesn't make their life in nasty jumpsuits, behind bars, with constant noise and light, with no privacy, with someone else telling you what time to get up, eat, go to sleep, etc., and with no ability to leave some cushy, awesome life that they're all thrilled to be living. For crying out loud, no matter what little activities you let them engage in so they won't get into fights and attack guards, they're still trapped behind bars.

But my favorite complaint is that the people at the jail are treating Jodi Arias like a celebrity. Hmm. Now why might that be, Nancy? Let's just think about that for a moment. It couldn't possibly be because you and your cohorts at HLN are talking about her trial every damn day, could it? Surely couldn't be because you are coming to tour the jail where she's housed and talking to inmates about her. If you don't want criminal defendants to be turned into celebrities, then stop turning them into celebrities! There are hundreds of criminal trials that will be starting or continuing tomorrow. But you and those like you have chosen to make an example of this one, to focus on it relentlessly. Just like Casey Anthony before, Drew Peterson before that. You single out these particular defendants, analyze their cases endlessly, and then complain that they're getting too much attention. Well, this one's on you because I wouldn't have a clue who Jodi Arias is if you hadn't brought her up.