By Matthew Monks
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) shared his on national television last week. “I think he's guilty as sin and I hope they find him that way,” Vallone said Friday on CourtTV, a cable station that broadcasts live trials into 83 million homes. Vallone has been a guest commentator for the channel on and off since the early 1990s when he was a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office. He has had less time for the station since joining the Council in 2000, appearing just once since his election. Even though he is busy with city matters, Vallone could not resist sounding off on Jackson, a pop star on trial in Santa Barbara, Calif., on charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003.”When they asked me to do Jackson, I thought it would be a great opportunity,” Vallone said in a telephone interview. “How many people get to go on national TV and say Michael Jackson is guilty as sin? I didn't want to turn that down.”Vallone was billed as a former prosecutor on the program “Trial Heat,” where talking heads recap and analyze the day's hottest trials. The show's anchor asked the councilman for his opinion on Judge Rodney Melville's decision to block testimony from one of the singer's former security guards. The guard had been prepared to tell jurors that he brought the visibly aroused singer a jar of Vaseline while he was in his bedroom with a young boy. The security guard was allowed, however, to tell the jurors about other alleged incidents during his tenure at Jackson's sprawling Neverland ranch compound. Melville did not explain his ruling.”The Vaseline decision, I think the judge was 100 percent wrong,” Vallone said during the broadcast. “I don't know why the judge didn't let it in.”Vallone said he enjoys being on CourtTV, but it is difficult because he has to brush up on each case and be prepared to explain complicated legal matters without looking like “a deer in headlights.” “I've been on it probably 20 times,” he said, commenting on the high-profile cases of New Jersey Jets star Jayson Williams, who was on trial for manslaughter, and the murder trial of Ray Lewis, defensive player for the Baltimore Ravens. “It's fun, but it's a lot of work.”Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
