News & Observer | newsobserver.com | 2008 NCAA Men's Bracket

Now comes word that Brad Cooper's lawyers are planning to hold a press conference at 4 p.m. today in Nash Square.

That would make the second press conference today in the Cooper case. The first one was held by Nancy Cooper's family, a session before which the press was asked to stay away from certain topics. Like the Cooper's marital problems. Like Brad Cooper, and what Nancy's family thinks about him. (Not much, judging from the custody petition).

But even with those matters off-limits, the morning press conference was compelling to watch, because Nancy Cooper's family, in their folksy yet articulate fashion, talked about their love for Nancy, how they were planning to tell her daughters about the loss of their mother, how they were handling the public spotlight. It was all very understated and low key, and that contributed to the power of their message.

I wondered why Nancy Cooper's family held their meeting with the press this morning. Any details about memorial services, etc. could have been issued in an email. They do not seem, at first blush, to be the sort of people who would be easily persuaded to go before the cameras. But there is no question that they come across very well on TV, and their daughter has become more familiar to us. The "missing jogger" who was known only to her close friends has now been replaced by a woman portrayed on Triangle airwaves and national TV as a loving mother, and an adored daughter and twin.

Brad Cooper, on the other hand, has been kept under wraps by his lawyers. All that the public knows are the unpleasant allegations contained in the custody petition and the account he has given police. And theories in the blogosphere. The police have not named him a suspect or -- to use that oblique law enforcement term -- a "person of interest." In the post-Nifong world that we live in, police and prosecutors are careful about what they say, no matter what Nancy Grace may think. (This, evidently, does not apply to Satanic cult cases in the Western Triangle, where you'd think law enforcement would have learned a thing or two, but no.)

Maybe we will learn more in 45 minutes from his attorneys, who, if they were watching Nancy Cooper's family on TV this morning, may have decided that they needed to do something, anything, to influence this narrative. We will be there and report what they say on newsobserver.com.