MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Thursday, October 1, 2009 10:07 am

Tuesday night was one of dueling judicial philosophies at the Citizens Police Academy with presentations by Rutherford County’s district attorney and public defender.

As would be expected from their respective jobs, Bill Whitesell, district attorney for Rutherford and Cannon counties, and Gerald Melton, public defender for the same, look at the law and their role in it from different angles.

Melton sees his role as one of upholding right granted by the U.S. Constitution and Tennessee law, like the right to representation, a fair trial and due process.

Whitesell, on the other hand, spoke of his support for victim’s rights and the need to reform sentencing laws to keep those convicted of crimes behind bars longer. (See the Post’s Sunday edition this week for a story about how overcrowding in local prisons may put a murderer back on the streets after only two years.)

He also expressed concern about the media’s, especially television, effect on the public in the form of the CSI Effect.

“There are people out there who think that guy on CSI can smell the floor and tell you who did it,” Whitesell said.

In reality, crime scene investigation is a slow and painstaking process.

If physical evidence is found, the samples, like DNA, trace evidence and even fingerprints, have to be sent off to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for analysis.

Whitesell said fingerprints are only useful in about 1 percent of cases and the chances for DNA are even less.

“All a fingerprint says is that at one point in time this person was there,” he said, adding it up to his office to connect that fact with other evidence to prove the suspect was involved with the crime.

The CSI Effect is mostly seen in juries and when jurors ask questions, sometimes it blows his mind.

“Sometimes you think, where in the world did that come from,”

Most of the time it comes from crime shows on TV.

Fun fact: MPD issues more tickets yearly for illegal parking on the Public Square than all other traffic violations.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.