EXCLUSIVE:  Nick Hogan's Pre-Trial Moves Forward
 Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

As you may know, ConnieTalk.com and EsmereldaSays have been closely following the Nick Bollea, aka Hogan trial, in which the youngest member of Hulk Hogan's family is being prosecuted by Pinellas County for the August 26, 2007 streetracing stint which put John Graziano - at the time, an active duty Marine just settling into a second return from Iraq - in a coma.  What many saw as an initial hesitance to prosecute Bollea by the Clearwater Police Department was followed up with Nick's arrest just days after we contacted them with this petition.

Pre-trial hearings are now being held - and though there was speculation that Bollea might reach a plea deal in the case, the Judge yesterday instead ordered further pre-sentencing investigation, and moved the next pre-trial hearing forward to April 14th, 2008.

We were advised by Governor Charlie Crist's office to contact the Honorable Bernie McCabe, State Attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida, with any concerns.  So we gave McCabe a buzz today to try and put plea speculation to rest, and his office seemed to share our distaste for the state of media - we were advised that their cases aren't tried in the news, which we completely understand and respect.

But we were also given one public update - that between now and April, additional background information on Nick will be gathered, and then the prosecution and defense will meet up again in less than two months at the next pre-trial.

McCabe's office is obviously doing their job:  gathering information and truly trying the case, instead of allowing a plea up front, or dropping charges.  Our concern as citizen journalists is only for the victim, not the celebrity of the defendant - rather that Nick's status be treated as any other citizen, so that he's prevented from possibly causing further harm.

Which is exactly what the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida and State Attorney McCabe are doing:  and when I was hung up on today, I felt pride for our judicial system.

Actors and actresses - celebrities, period - are often fun to watch or pretty to look at.  We just need to make that sure our society keeps them below the law.

And just because we didn't hear back from the Clearwater P.D., doesn't mean we shouldn't have faith in them, either.  They moved it to the court system, and thus far, every step involved had been just what we were hoping to obtain in the first place:  justice.

Oftentimes, we've learned, justice requires patience.  It isn't until Lady Justice's scales stop wiggling that she can get a true measure of mass.

Yes, this is a heartwrenching tragedy; and no, nobody wins.  That's why we have fair laws in place, to prevent bad things from happening again; to prevent future victims.

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