Aaron Biber
The reported arrest of Aaron Biber (click here for Minnesota Lawyer article) will be the talk of the town next week in the Minnesota legal community. (The report was made by KSTP-TV, Channel 5). Biber — click here for his bio from his firm’s website — is a ubiquitous figure at bar events, who has inhabited several many key positions of bar leadership — from heading the Hennepin County Bar Association to his current role as treasurer of the Minnesota State Bar Association. Biber is a recognizable figure to anyone involved with bar activities (and is made all the more recognizable by the fact that he is one of only a handful of local lawyers who favors wearing a bow tie).
We will, of course, be following developments in this case closely, particularly when formal charges are filed Monday. I’m not going out on a limb to say Biber’s arrest is an event of seismic proportions to the Minnesota legal community — particularly within the relatively small and very close-knit circles of bar leadership.
Update, 12/14 (9:45 a.m.): The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has told Minnesota Lawyer that further details on the arrest will be available sometime this afternoon. As soon as we have more information, we’ll post it.
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Given the nature of the allegations, is a mere arrest really the (ethical) threshold to be reporting on this stuff? To be clear, I’m thinking more critically of KSTP, not this blog reporting on KSTP. This is more meta-news.
Agreed- assuming he has simply been arrested without yet being charged, KSTP ought to have waited.
The KSTP video report I saw yesterday was shameful. It looked like they went up to a house (Biber’s?) with the camera down low, like they were secretly filming or at least trying to hide the camera. It seemed like tabloid journalism. It was like they were so eager for a scoop that they couldn’t wait until there was an actual story there. I felt bad for the woman who opened the door. What has happened to common decency and privacy these days?
I don’t know Mr. Biber, but as a human being I have to acknowledge that merely hearing of an arrest under this sort of suspicion has a prejudicial effect on me. And it shouldn’t. I find it shocking how quickly someone can see their name tarnished after a mere arrest, before charges are filed.
I guess we’ll know more about the allegations in an hour or so. It’s too bad KSTP couldn’t wait until they actually had something worth reporting.
I also have to wonder what affect KSTP’s reporting had on the decision-making of the parties involved. Did it pressure the prosecutor to deliver charges? Did it pressure the arrested to make certain decisions?
This is like a perp walk before a perp walk.
affect = effect; sigh
Are you people insane? “Mere arrests” are reported in the media all the time.
Tabloid journalism? You don’t think there’s a sufficient factual basis to report this arrest? I’m glad you’re so concerned about the perpetrator. Some of us will actually worry about the victim. Or maybe you feel he shouldn’t have even been charged? Unbelievable!
What AntiElite is missing is that when the original posts were made in this thread Biber had been arrested but not charged. If KSTP had access to the “sufficient factual basis” on Saturday and Sunday, then the question is how they got it.
And as to Ex-RB’s comment: yes, it may happen all the time, but consider the consequences for those arrested but not charged.
It is insulting to claim that I’m “so concerned about the perpetrator” and the implication that I don’t “actually worry about the victim.” Your completely missing the point: someone getting arrested should not be the ethical threshold for sensational reporting in our system which allows arrest on the thinest of grounds. It’s not until there are actual charges filed and further factual details that a news agency should ethically report charges like this.
AntiElite, I hope you never are arrested by mistake. It does happen. But if you are, you’d understand that there is a big difference between being arrested and being charged.
I’ll note that I am unaware of another Minnesota news source that reported on this story before the press conference on Monday.
And just to make it clearer for AntiElite: Obviously, Yes, from the facts as alleged I think he should have been charged. I have three children and find this horrifying.
I think reasonable minds can differ on this. Is is news when the CEO of a Fortune 500 is dragged from the boardroom in handcuffs (even before he’s charged)? Probably. Is it news when Joe Schmo is arrested (but not yet charged) while walking down Hennepin Avenue? Probably not.
AntiElite your comments are relevant but I think that’s why minnlawyer has a blog separate from their main site. In a sense blogs are given a little more journalistic freedom given our instant news capability that didn’t exist before. A blog can easily correct or delete posts before Google picks it up. Though the damage done by an erroneous post is up to the victim(s) to pursue. There is push to have all blogs held to the stringent ethical journalistic standards as paper but consider that if you would file a complaint over a blog, no news council would bat an eye.
As for factual basis, I think the events leading up to his arrest might be a little more heinous than say a chat room bust. They have records of communication and they were able to manipulate Biber into meeting Child A. Seems the po-po did it right instead of simply arresting him at work the moment the po report was filed. I guess even officers are watching To Catch a Predator.