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| Court OKs Request in 'Fatal Vision' Case |
| 2006-01-16 |
| An appeals court gave new life Friday to the defense of a former Green Beret doctor convicted of the 1970 murders of his wife and daughters, ruling that his lawyers can introduce evidence that a prosecutor threatened a witness. A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., granted a motion by Jeffrey MacDonald's lawyers to present the new evidence in Raleigh federal court. It could result in a new trial, said Hart Miles, one of MacDonald's attorneys. The defense filed the motion last month, after a former deputy U.S. marshal came forward last year to say he heard a defense witness tell a prosecutor she was in the MacDonald home in Fort Bragg, N.C., on the night of the slayings. Jimmy B. Britt, part of the security detail during MacDonald's 1979 trial, said he heard prosecutor James Blackburn tell Helena Stoeckley that he would indict her for murder if she told the same story on the witness stand. Stoeckley later testified she could not remember where she was the night of the slayings. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #1 My problem with the whole affair is that the man stood Court Martial which is a federal court and was acquitted. In total disregard of Constitutional protection against double jeopardy, he was triad again in a civilian criminal court for the same offensive and found guilty. Whether he did it or not, the system demonstrated that regardless of what the Constitution says, fundamental guarantees mean nothing. Now if he had been a member of what the judiciary declares to be a 'protected group' I'm sure the second trial would never had happen. |
| Posted by: Thruling Thimble1239 2006-01-16 10:31 |