Mon 24 Jan 2005
Letter from Joel Cohen, one of Dr. Dhafir’s attorneys, to The Post-Standard. Published, Nov. 15th, 2004.
As one of the attorneys with the privilege of representing Dr. Rafil Dhafir, I am extremely grateful that the jury will decide his fate on the basis of the evidence and lack of evidence that THEY hear, and not what is reported in The Post-Standard. Your coverage of the case thus far makes it abundantly clear that what your reporter hears and what everyone else in the courtroom hears are not the same. In fact, I often wonder if your reporter and I are at the same trial, listening to the same testimony, from the same witnesses.
Your reporting seems to focus solely on the indictment charges and what the government’s witnesses testify to on direct examination. In one of the rare instances where your newspaper briefly mentioned material elicited during Mr. Cannick’s cross-examination, you immediately followed it with a quote from the indictment.
As a newspaper of record in Syracuse, you should be more cognizant of your responsibility to report this case, and any other important matter, fairly accurately and without bias.