Death penalty trial in Torrance?

Thanks for writing with your questions. The case is being tried in Torrance because that is the courthouse where crimes that occur in the unincorporated area of Athens are charged. I am not sure why there was so little coverage of the crimes when they happened. There are several possibilities, including that police didn't let news agencies know about them or maybe there was some other "big story" going on at the time. The Daily Breeze has never run a story about this case - or at least about Mosley's arrest and being charged for the crimes - mostly because they occurred in what we around the newsroom call OTA - which means Out of The Area. Local newspapers like the Breeze limit their coverage to the areas where the newspaper is sold and circulated. We don't have a readership in Athens, either because the paper isn't sold there or nobody is buying it there, I'm not sure, so we don't cover the area.

As the trial date approached, we discussed what - if any - coverage I should give it. Because it is such a horrific case, and it happened really close to the South Bay's borders, we decided it was worth reporting on a limited basis. That definitely includes verdict of the guilt phase and, if it goes to a penalty phase, the outcome of that, too.

Anti Yellow Journalism from Los Angeles wrote:

it's nice to see that Denise Nix is still obsessed with sex trials and scandals... if she ever files a story that has shred of fairness or objectivity be on the look out for a winter vacation to hades and pigs offering an inflight meal of slop on their new airline...

I'd like to hear more from this reader about what I was not fair or objective about. Everything included in this story, as in all my stories, comes directly from other people. Ninety-eight percent of this article was based on the attorneys' words during trial. If you don't like what they have to say, take it up with them. I'm just the messenger.

As for my obsession with crime stories - well, if I didn't write about these incidents, I wouldn't get paid. So, yeah, you could say I'm obsessed with putting food on the table and paying my mortgage. I'm just lucky I have a job that is interesting, and allows me to share bits of our community and our humanity with others so they can be informed, entertained and aware. I am, however, always amused by those who say something isn't news after they've read all the way to the bottom. Thanks for reading!