What makes the public take interest in a trial? Why do so few gain such attention?

The Washington Post wrote an interesting account of the intense coverage of the trial of former UVA lacrosse player George Huguely in the murder of Cockeysville-native Yeardley Love. In, “The Huguely Case: What Makes for a Media Mob” writer Paul Farhi notes that the city of Charlottesville received over 200 requests for press credentials and cites the trials of Amanda Knox, Casey Anthony and Conrad Murray as examples of cases that have garnered equal interest.  There is a formula, so it seems.

“Almost all of the great media spectacles surrounding crime and punishment in America over the past 30 years or so have involved one or more of the following: young white women, celebrities, or wealthy people,” the story asserts.

Yesterday, the trial was delayed because defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana was ill. The trial is expected to resume today, with the defense continuing to present its case. Over the next few days, lawyers for Huguely will call to the stand medical experts from the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins, Huguely’s mother Marta Murphy, a UVA lacrosse teammate, and a student from Landon, the private school Huguely attended in Bethesda, according to the Baltimore Sun.