A jury has acquitted the wife of the PULSE gunman, you just can’t keep a good girl down on American Idol, and there’s a new prince in town on The Crown.
Why She Won
Noor Salman, widow of gunman Omar Matter, spent 14 months in jail awaiting trial after charges were brought alleging that she had helped her husband pick his target and organized the mass murder of 49 LGBT club goers and their friends alongside him.
Why the prosecution failed to get a conviciton wasn’t clear until the trial concluded. As it turns out, Salman was interrogated by the FBI immediately after the shooting for 11 hours without legal representation and without being told of her Miranda rights. Prosecutors in the case stated that since she could have left whenever she liked, that formality wasn’t necessary.
Salman did sign a confession admitting she knew her husband’s plan because she saw him looking at the Pulse’s website and that a week before the attack the pair cased PULSE together.
Neither of those events occurred. At the trial an FBI agent testified that GPS and cellphone tower evidence clearly proved that Salman was never anywhere near the nightclub — a fact the FBI knew last year but kept to themselves until Salman’s trial. An examination of Mateen’s computer revealed he had never even visited the PULSE website.
As the defense was able to show, Salman suffered years of abuse from her husband and feared he might actually kill her. In addition, Salman has a severe learning disability that challenges her to retain facts or even grasp the connection between one bit of information and another — all of which came to light during the trial.
Adam’s Apple
Anyone watching American Idol this week had to appreciate the journey that returned Adam Sanders to the competition — in drag as Ada Vox. He had been a contestant in season 12 of the show, but only made it to the top 50.
Sanders was crushed, and admitted hehad some dark nights of the soul— including thoughts of suicide. Eventually he dedided to reinvent himself, and the result was nothing short of astonishing.
Heir to The Crown
It worked when they did it on Bewitched, diddn’t it? It’s been known for some time that the creative minds behind the much-beloved Netflix series The Crown wouldn’t have Claire Foy and Matt Smith playing the royal couple throughout their series. That Foy would be replaced by Olivia Colman for the next installment is also not news; but it did launch much speculation over who would replace Smith as Prince Philip, the queen’s strong-willed (and often rebellious) husband — also father to Charles, and the man seen most likely to wear the crown eventually: Prince William.
Prince Philip, and Tobias Menzies, who will take over the role in Netflix’ “The Crown” next season.
Enter Tobias Menzies (pictured right, next to Prince Philip). The binge-watching world waits.
James Howell, Who Planned to Attack LA Pride in 2016, Gets Seven Year Sentence
Last modified: August 1, 2018
