Originally Posted by idi banashapan

a guilty suspect will always 'play to the gallery', or at least to the jury. they are trying not to get sent down!!! but come the end of the trial, regardless of how many people watch it, the evidence is still going to be there (or not). the number of people viewing a trial is unlikely to have any bearing on the result.

as for your reality TV comment - I'm not so sure I agree. Reality TV tends to be 'real' people in controlled and staged circumstances with no other agenda than entertainment, whereas the recording of a trial would, in my view, fall more into the category of documentary, in the respect that it is documenting the trial. and if one were faced with losing their freedom for many years, I doubt the fact that they are on TV would really be at the top of their concerns, would it?