Obsessed

So, on any given day I can surf the internet, gather up random articles and newsy-bits, and get on with my life. Other days? Not so much. God forbid some juicy tidbit comes along that jumps into my brain and forces me to suck the life out of it by Googling every little 'ting about it.

Take the Scott Peterson case, for example. I was on top of that from the day an article popped up on CNN.com. It said something like Pregnant California woman remains missing, search parties out in force. Okay, interesting. Let's take a peek. Let's call mom and see if she heard about it. Let's talk on the phone about it and completely immerse ourselves in everything Modesto, CA for the next months while her husband becomes creepier and creepier and women across the nation pray for someone to take him down. Let's pour over every article, every opinion, every everything to see if we can crack the case ourselves. We didn't, by the way. Apparently no one every will, unless Scott confesses or the dog learns to speak.

I got immersed in another case sometime last year, and it's one of those stories that I Google every now and then to see what's what. It's the case about Schapelle Corby. Heard of her?

Here's the skinny:

In Oct 2004 Schapelle, a 27yr old from Australia, and assorted family members/friends decided to go to Bali for a two week vacation. She brought along her boogie board, and at the Queensland airport she had to check it as it was oversized. They flew from Queensland to Sydney, had a layover, then completed their trip to Bali. There the party was stopped by customs and asked who owned the boogie board. Schapelle said it was hers and lifted it to a table to be searched as other passengers were also having luggage searched, post 9/11 activity.

During the search they found almost 10lbs of pot, a pillow-sized bag, sitting on top of her board. Schapelle was shocked and immediately denied it was hers. Customs took her away, tried to make her sign a confession, while her family/friends were standing around helpless. They put her in jail for 7 months while they prepared a trial. The laws in Bali regarding drug smuggling are fierce, it's basically the death sentence or life in prison. The law enforcement stated that she was smuggling it into Bali. She stated that she would be foolish to smuggle drugs in, nevermind that large amount, through TWO airports, in an unlocked bag that would be out of her possession for the entire trip. She stated she was a victim of a poorly-planned drug smuggle between baggage handlers - and there was some evidence of a drug-ring at the airports.

Scary ass thought right? The baggage handlers had little security as they came and went from work, and could be carrying huge packages to and from their cars, unknown to anyone. It's completely plausible. Most Australians believed in her innocence based on this idea.

But she wasn't on trial in Australia. Here's what didn't happen during the investigation in Indonesia:

- no fingerprints were taken from the bag of pot, in fact so many people touched it, took some, handled it in the first hour that any forensic evidence was disrupted.

- her bag wasn't weighed in the Australian airport, so no way to determine any change in weight.

- the pot wasn't tested to determine it's origin, or to see who had handled it.

- there were no available airport security camera tapes to view - they were either wiped, or never requested.

Schapelle was lucky, she escaped the death sentence, and the life in prison - but she was sentenced to 20 years. TWENTY! They've appealed twice, and been turned down. She's going to rot until she reaches her forties.

Intriguing story, right? I believe she's innocent, mostly because A) I think she would be foolish to attempt smuggling in that large amount of pot to a country who punishes such actions with the dealth penalty, B) I like to believe the baggage handlers could get away with it, and that thought is frightening, leading to further sympathy from me to her, C) She willingly stepped up to claim the bag and agreed to open it for security, clearly she didn't know the pot was in there.

However, every story has two sides...so here's some more tidbits.

Some people have brought up her brother James as a possible suspect. He was on the trip with her, was in possession of the boogie board bag, and this past year was sentenced to four years in prison on a drug bust. Could he have put it in there? Sure. Could a brother really stand by and watch his sister almost get the death penalty because of his actions? I don't know. Stranger things have happened I guess.

There's also rumors that float around regarding her family, and recreational pot use, a neighbor who was busted for growing it, etc. However, dig deep enough into anyone's life and you're bound to find something negative.

So there you go. Interested enough to research more? Here's the Wikipedia site, and her official site. Both are interesting reads, and if you're bored at work you can kill an easy hour or more if you choose to bury yourself in it. HBO is running a new documentary on the case, called Ganja Queen. It was interesting to finally see and hear her after looking at so many still pictures.

Let me know what you think about it. And by all means, if you're buried in something as addictive feel free to share!