NEW YORK — Judging by your e-mails and the commentary and even the coverage of the case, most people didn’t like the defense closing yesterday. But the only audience that really matters in the murder trial of Neil Entwistle or any other murder case is the jury.

And those who criticize Eliot Weinstein for defending Neil Entwistle – or Marc Geragos in the Peterson case or countless other criminal defense attorneys who do their jobs well, are missing that point. It’s not about us, it’s about the Constitution. And it’s not even about the client, it’s about the clients right to counsel, to a fair trial, to an unbiased jury. Because his right are our rights.

If you love this country, like I do, then you’ve read the Constitution and if you’ve read it you know that defending the accused is the most sacred role a lawyer can perform. How can you defend those people? That’s the question I always get. My answer: How could I not? That’s the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK — It’s good to be back and it’s a good thing I am because somebody has to say it. Neil Entwistle is presumed innocent. But for the two weeks I’ve been away, it seems he’s been all but presumed guilty.

When I got up this morning to do my homework, I checked on every show, every blog, every tabloid I’ve seen — Entwistle has been convicted long before the evidence was in. Certainly before the case went to the jury. And even before the jury was selected he was presumed guilty based on facts that were fed to us by prosecutors and police.

I’m not saying he’s innocent. Frankly, I don’t care all that much about Entwistle. What I care about is the right to a fair trial. And that’s not just me talking. That’s the sixth amendment. And the last word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK–So at the end of the case, here’s what we know about Naveed Haq. He was born in Ohio in 1975 to Pakistani immigrants. He excelled academically as a child, and in high school was accepted into an accelerated college program.

And that’s when the problems began. Depression, a suicide attempt, hearing voices. By the time he was 20, Haq was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Later, schizoaffective disorder was added to the diagnosis. Haq suffered from mania, hallucinations, and the belief that he could broadcast his thoughts. He actually thought he could go back in time and shift between dimensions, and levels, and worlds.

We also know that on July 28, 2006, Naveed Haq shot and killed one woman and badly injured five others at Jewish Federation Headquarters in Seattle. But despite all of that the jury could not convict.

And that’s because, at bottom, this was not a hate crime. This defendant has a long history of mental illness, not a long history of anti-Semitism. As is all too often the case, our mental health system failed these victims, just as it failed Naveed Haq.

And that is the Last Word.

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK — Dina Matos McGreevey should take herself to the movies, because the new Sex and the City flick opened this weekend and she needs to see it. The four main characters each represent the four parts of the female psyche. Charlotte the puritan, Miranda the career woman, Samantha lustful, and of course Carrie the romantic.

What the movie finally teaches, that the series never really did, is that only a woman who is true to all of her selves — who is fully integrated — can live happily ever after. As Carrie says to the girls, “We spend all this time writing our vows but no time writing our own rules.”

Who would have thought Sex in the City would be giving advice to the former first lady of New Jersey. But it’s good advice and Dina should take it. It’s time for women to stop looking to men for fulfillment, financial and otherwise. And it is time for us to live our lives on our own terms. And that means our love lives too. And that’s the Last Word.

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK — The state of Texas is nothing if not law and order. So there must be a reason two appellate courts there have sided with polygamist mothers fighting for the return of their children. And that reason is simple: it’s the right thing to do. Not as a matter of sympathy, or morality, or decency, but as a matter of constitutional law.

True, the Texas Supreme Court did not say yesterday that there’s no wrongdoing at the ranch, where authorities say sexual abuse of young girls is routine. Indeed, the Supreme Court acknowledged the state’s interest in protecting children from harm. But state agents can’t storm home, polygamist or otherwise, and remove children without a showing of abuse. Suspicions are not enough.

I know it’s difficult to understand if you care about children or the mothers. But those of us who choose to become lawyers, well, these are easy cases, because these are the very people our Constitution seeks to protect — the least popular among us — lest they be subject to the tyranny of the majority. And that is the Last Word.

– Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK — I had a little sit down with Scalia yesterday. Yes, that Scalia. And I don’t often agree with him on much, but there are a few things. Love of country. Love of the Constitution, though we don’t always agree on its interpretation. And there’s something else. A love of language.

So now, together with Bryan Garner, Justice Scalia has written this book, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” and thank God for it because we’re losing our love of language in this country. We say mute when we mean moot. We insert the word “like” into nearly every sentence, whether it belongs there or not. And don’t get me started on me, myself and I.

So, whether you are making your case to a judge, your spouse or that police officer who is about to give you a ticket, take a page from Scalia’s book: use the right words, put them in the right order, and know the meaning. The authors remind us that no journey can be taken before we know to what place and by what road we have to go. Which is a fancy way of saying, think before you speak. And that is the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK–Yesterday, the state of Virginia executed a man who was convicted of killing a convenience store owner. And it was the first execution in that state in nearly two years. The man, Kevin Green, was convicted of the murder in 1998.

Nothing really remarkable about his case, except that his execution was the third since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection in April. The court said that the three drug cocktail (which even veterinarians won’t use on animals) is not cruel and unusual punishment. And just yesterday, they refused to hear an appeal in Mr. Green’s case.

Well, maybe lethal injection is constitutional. But Mr. Green was also mentally disabled. And executing someone who is, is not constitutional either. And that is the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor 

NEW YORK — So OJ Simpson pleaded not guilty. He wants us to believe he’s innocent. All over again. Can you believe that? Well I can. And I do presume him innocent until the state proves him guilty in this case. Because that presumption of innocence, well it’s not about OJ. It’s not about me. It’s not about you or any one individual.

The presumption of innocence is about our country and what it stands for. Think about it: if you lived in another country, most other countries, in fact, and were arrested for a crime you’d be presumed guilty. And it would be your burden to prove your innocence. Not an easy thing to do when you’re just one person up against the power and persuasive resources of the government.

So in this country, our freedom is our most cherished value. And for the state to take it away? Well, they have to work at it. In every case. Even this one. So you may not like OJ. You may even think he was guilty in that other case all those years ago. But take away OJ’s right to a fair trial this time around and you take away that right for all of us. And that is the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK — I have lots of girlfriends who are getting divorces and they’re not going to like this, but why doesn’t Dina Matos McGreevey just go out and get a job? I know she’s got one. But she’s going to lose it when the hospital she works for closes.

So maybe that’s why we have this ugly divorce. Times have changed. Women have jobs and when we lose them we do the same thing men have been doing for decades; hit the pavement. Sure he can make money. But she can too, maybe more. The book, “Silent Partner.” Her turn on Oprah. She’s pretty, she’s smart. And she’s a role model for her daughter. Of course, Mr. McGreevey should help support their little girl until she’s an adult and can what? Get a job. Which is exactly what her mother needs to do.

But instead, the lesson Dina Matos is teaching her daughter is to rely on a man for your livelihood, whether you’re married to him or not. And that’s not the lesson we should be teaching our daughters in the year 2008. I tell my daughter to get an education, get a job and never ever expect a man to take care of you. Because the days of women contracting for a life of leisure are over. Or they should be. And that’s the Last Word.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor

NEW YORK – Earlier this month, Mildred Loving died. She was born Mildred Jeter, and she was only 18 when she and her boyfriend, Richard Loving, decided to marry. But first they needed permission. Not from their parents, but from the U.S. Supreme Court.

That’s because Mildred was black and Richard was white. And in 1958, it was illegal for them to get married in a majority of states. Forty-one years ago next month, we celebrate the landmark Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which overturned those laws. But society was slow to change. Interracial couples faced discrimination in employment and housing. Their children were called “mixed nuts.”

So in 1973, a man named Arnold Adoff wrote this beautiful children’s book to celebrate these families. It’s called “Black is Brown is Tan” and it’s written in the beat poetry style of the day: “black is brown is tan is nose is face is all the colors of the race. This is the way it is for us this is the way we are. Kiss big woman hug big man black is brown is tan.”

Well, after the Loving case came down, the Lovings and their children lived a quiet life and all around them the world changed. Now people from different races are marrying in increasing numbers. The couple aptly named Loving made it possible, and taught us that true love is color blind.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor