Law.com includes an interesting piece that says:

Prosecutors across the country are seeing fallout from the Duke case, as defense attorneys use it to discredit other criminal cases and paint them as overzealous prosecutors with something to prove.

In Texas, one defense attorney recently cited the case during voir dire, and again in closing argument, in an assault case involving a teacher accused of pinning down a female student while other students beat her. The lawyer reminded jurors about what happened at Duke. The defendant was found not guilty in three minutes.

"Prosecutors should be worried," said defense attorney Edmund "Skip" Davis, the Texas attorney who cited the Duke case in the recent assault trial and plans to cite it in a rape trial next week.

In the teacher assault case, Davis asked jurors during voir dire if they were familiar with the "tragedy" that happened in the Duke case and whether they thought it was a shoddy investigation. At closing, he reminded jurors not to rush to judgment to avoid "that tragedy that nearly fell upon those kids at Duke."

"I told them, 'Just because someone hollers out that a crime has been committed just does not make it so,'" Davis said. "And the Duke case made a perfect example of that."

In Ohio, criminal defense attorney Ian Friedman of Ian N. Friedman & Associates in Cleveland said he plans to ask jurors during voir dire about the Duke case in an upcoming rape trial to see how they feel about false accusations and mishandled investigations.

The article also says:

Prosecutors, meanwhile, believe that the Duke case is tarnishing their image, and could potentially hurt future cases.

"[That case] definitely is going to make it difficult for us, there's no question about it," said Joshua Marquis, district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore.

Al's Morning Multimedia: "Mortgage Meltdown"

You should see how much WMAR-TV in Baltimore offers online users on the issue of mortgage foreclosures. The station mapped "hot spots" for foreclosures. ABC2 News investigators looked at more than 1.7 million loans made in Maryland in 2004 and 2005 using data from the federal government. Under the Federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, lenders must report race, ethnicity, gender, income and the location of each loan.

As good as the work is -- and it is very good -- it is too bad the Web site allowed a mortgage company to place an ad on the same page.

CNN's Paula Zahn show on Friday focused on the rising tide of foreclosures sweeping across the country. (Read transcript here.) Foreclosures are up 35 percent in the first quarter of this year. The show not only focused on the "what" of the story but attended courthouse step auctions, told the story of an eviction officer and a homeowner who is losing everything, and looked at risky loans that help to set up the default. This was a terrific, deep look at a growing problem. You would do well to take a similar deep and wide look locally. The show also offered tips for people who are behind on payments and may soon find themselves in foreclosure.

Military Contractor Deaths Reach Record

In the first three months of this year, 146 private American contractors died in Iraq according to new government data. That raises the total contractor death toll to 917, in addition to the 12,000 who have been wounded or injured. The New York Times reports:

"The insurgents are going after the softest targets, and the contractors are softer targets than the military," said Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense for manpower during the Reagan administration. "The U.S. is being more aggressive over there, and these contractor deaths go right along with it."

Truck drivers and translators account for a significant share of the casualties, but the recent death toll includes others who make up what amounts to a private army.

Here is a contractor-support Web site, which, among other things, urges contractors' families to be aware that private workers can be expected to suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome just as soldiers do. This site lists available jobs in Iraq paying between $60,000 and $175,000.

PBS' "Frontline" produced an outstanding documentary and interactive Web site about private defense contractors.

Cheese Food/Cheese Product

Have you noticed that foods labeled "cheese food" are now being labeled "cheese products?"

Moustprint.org, a site that looks at the tiny print on ads and products, investigated this change.

MySpace Says It Can't Turn Over Sex Offender Sites

Attorneys general in eight states want to know if sex offenders have MySpace sites. MySpace says it can't turn over those names. The Hartford (Conn.) Courant explains why. The attorneys general are from North Carolina, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.