The court system has a new challenge to contend with – social media.

In cases, especially high-profile ones, judges tell jurors not to read the newspaper, not to watch television news or look at news websites. For the most part, I think, jurors take their civic duty very seriously, including following the judge's instructions.

But the proliferation of social media and commenting online has created an unfiltered threat to the judicial process. It allows people to post what is often irrelevant, inappropriate, and uninformed opinions.

Contrary to what some people say, this is not about the First Amendment, because the speech, which often amounts to libel, is done under the cloak of anonymity.

Real freedom of speech involves people who are willing to identify themselves when they speak their mind, even at the risk of others disagreeing with what they say. Anonymous posters have no real conviction or character because they are making statements without the possibility...

In every murder case there is a grieving mother.

Throughout the entire trial for the man accused of killing their daughter in a drunken driving crash, Brantly Shapiro, and her husband David, sat stoically in the front row of the courtroom just behind the prosecutors.  At times Brantly Shapiro would bow her head, or lean on her husband's shoulder for support.  At other times loved ones in the row behind her would put a hand on her shoulder.  Sometimes, during very graphic testimony, she would get up and leave the courtroom.  Everyone in the room was aware of who she was.

Like the Red Sea, the gaggle of photographers and reporters with their BlackBerries, laptops and half-eaten muffins would part in silence as she waked through the area where they were assembled.  Even a group of skeptical people used to observing tragedy on a daily basis knows that the mother of the victim deserves a special level of respect.

But despite her profound sadness,...

When people plead guilty to serious crimes, they often stand up and apologize to the victim and the judge in the courtroom.  It is often hard to assess whether or not someone's apology is genuine, or aimed at getting mercy from the court.

Monday, I covered a plea and sentencing hearing in a child molestation case.  The defendant, a former church volunteer, pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a 14-year-old boy on a church playground in Garner in June.  He had also been convicted of prior sex crimes with children in 1980.  But on this day, Randy Robertson said he had mended his ways.  He told the judge that he had entered intensive therapy shortly after his June arrest.  He said as a result of his treatment, he had turned his life around.  He had found a new job, a new circle of friends and even a girlfriend.  He told the judge he was "remorsefully sorry" for the "hurt" he had caused people.  As apologies go, it was a pretty...

While Elizabeth Edwards' legacy is inextricably tied to John Edwards' demise, she is more than that. She is a mother, a writer, a sister, a daughter. I would say that out of all these she is first, and foremost, a mother.