As I raised my camera to get an updated picture of the tumbling Lafayette Building earlier this week, a man standing on the corner of Lafayette and Shelby eyed me suspiciously. When our eyes met, I was immediately pretty certain it was Sam Riddle, the political consultant who's awaiting a jury verdict in his case on charges of bribery, extortion and assorted other things you'd never put on your resume. He looked at me as if suspicious that I planned on aiming my camera at him, which, of course, I did a few seconds later as he crossed Shelby. Apparently the courtroom was breaking for lunch, and somehow Riddle was standing by himself just outside the federal courthouse, right across the street from news vans representing every TV news crew in town. Nobody was filming him or taking pictures or asking for quotes or anything. It was kind of like they didn't know he was there - the whole thing seemed very strange. Maybe by now, the media doesn't bother asking him anything directly, they just wait to see what his next Facebook or Twitter post says.
As for the trial, the jury appears deadlocked, and is huddling up again today to continue sorting through everything.
