|
Post by madeline on Dec 23, 2018 1:03:27 GMT -5
After reading "Fatal Vision," I thought he was guilty. Then when we had the mock trial in our old group, which I think was back in 2007, I changed my mind, even though I was the assistant prosecutor in the "trial." As it turned out, I ended up having to do all the work because that whiny witch who was the prosecutor didn't know what she was doing. It was strange. When the trial started, everyone but Lee thought he was guilty. She couldn't even get anyone to volunteer to assist her as the defense attorney. But in the end, all 12 of the "jurors" found him not guilty. The mock trial was fun and I learned a lot about the case that I didn't know and that wasn't in the book. I had thought he was guilty, too. I was on the jury and the defense closing argument was very convincing. I think that most of the 12 jurors voted not guilty the first time. I believe the only holdout was April and she finally agreed on not guilty. That judge we had, I think her name was Trudy, was awful. Joanna had to keep stepping in and overriding some of her insane rulings because she didn't know what she was doing.
|
|
|
Post by Graveyardbride on Sept 18, 2021 16:36:06 GMT -5
Court Denies Jeffrey MacDonald’s Appeal for ‘Compassionate Release’
On Thursday, September 16, the U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed a petition filed by Jeffrey MacDonald, who was convicted of murdering his wife and two young daughters at Fort Brag, North Carolina, on the night of February 16-17, 1970. This means he will continue serving three consecutive life sentences and almost certainly die in prison.
Since his conviction in 1979 – nine years after the murders – MacDonald has filed numerous appeals, which have been repeatedly rejected by various courts. His latest stemmed from a November 2020 motion petitioning the court for “compassionate release” under the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform law signed into law by former President Donald Trump in 2018. According to the appeal, MacDonald’s age (he will turn 78 on October 12) and health issues, including chronic kidney disease, skin cancer and high blood pressure, “make him extremely vulnerable to severe illness or death if he were to contract COVID-19.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Harris opposed MacDonald’s petition, claiming the First Step Act applies only to crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987, citing as precedent a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2021. Although North Carolina is in the Fourth Circuit, not the Ninth, and rulings in other circuits do not automatically apply, judges often find appellate rulings in other circuits persuasive.
But, Harris continued, even if the court did allow MacDonald’s appeal under the First Step Act, he should remain locked up. “Given the nature and circumstances of the brutal murders of his family, including his little girls, to release MacDonald now would not reflect the seriousness of his crimes, would engender disrespect for the law, and would undermine the just punishment he deserves for his crimes,” he wrote.
On April 9, 2021, United States District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle denied the motion and MacDonald appealed the decision. Now, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Boyle’s decision.
The decision by the Court of Appeals was announced by G. Norman Acker, III, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, who added, “Jeffrey MacDonald did the unthinkable more than fifty years ago when he murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in brutal fashion. MacDonald’s latest effort to get out of prison has failed just like his previous efforts failed. But today, as always, our minds turn to Colette, Kimberly and little Kristen, and to the family and friends whose lives were devastated by their untimely deaths. Our office has sought justice on their behalf for decades. That work continues today. And that work will continue every day until MacDonald’s efforts to escape justice cease for good.”
Despite the court’s latest ruling, many believe MacDonald was wrongfully convicted and that he was being truthful when he said intruders entered his home and murdered his wife and children.
Sources: U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, Eastern District of North Carolina; and The Fayetteville Observer.
|
|
|
Post by jane on Sept 18, 2021 17:11:48 GMT -5
I don’t have much of an opinion about murders, unless it’s one that happens close to where I live, like that weird kid Aiden Fucci, but from what I know about the Jeffrey MacDonald case, most of which is from the mock trial that we had in the old group, I just don’t believe he did it.
|
|
Fritz
New Member
Posts: 31
|
Post by Fritz on Sept 19, 2021 0:37:03 GMT -5
I don’t have much of an opinion about murders, unless it’s one that happens close to where I live, like that weird kid Aiden Fucci, but from what I know about the Jeffrey MacDonald case, most of which is from the mock trial that we had in the old group, I just don’t believe he did it. I don't think he's guilty either. I live in North Carolina and I've come across a lot of people who knew MacDonald, including doctors, nurses and medics who worked with him. They all said that he could be something of an ass, but no one believed he committed those murders. From what I've heard, there were some strange things going on at Fort Bragg at that time and a lot of teenage military dependents thought he was a narc. At that time, it was an open base, meaning that anyone could pass through the gates without having to show identification, so anyone could have gone to his house that night and killed his wife and children and left the base without anyone knowing they'd ever been there. People on drugs do crazy things and they'll do anything to protect their drug supply. I've even heard that some people were afraid that MacDonald had found out about heroin being smuggled into the country in the caskets of men killed in Vietnam.
|
|
|
Post by LostLenore on Sept 21, 2021 20:55:13 GMT -5
I don't think he's guilty either. I live in North Carolina and I've come across a lot of people who knew MacDonald, including doctors, nurses and medics who worked with him. They all said that he could be something of an ass, but no one believed he committed those murders. From what I've heard, there were some strange things going on at Fort Bragg at that time and a lot of teenage military dependents thought he was a narc. At that time, it was an open base, meaning that anyone could pass through the gates without having to show identification, so anyone could have gone to his house that night and killed his wife and children and left the base without anyone knowing they'd ever been there. People on drugs do crazy things and they'll do anything to protect their drug supply. I've even heard that some people were afraid that MacDonald had found out about heroin being smuggled into the country in the caskets of men killed in Vietnam. I really don't know if he's guilty or not and since the "trial" some people are talking about was before my time, I don't have the benefit of reading the defense's argument that convinced everyone that he wasn't guilty. I seem to remember that at one time, he was offered parole if he would admit to the murders and he refused and this seems to suggest that he isn't guilty, but I'm still not sure.
|
|
|
Post by jason on Sept 23, 2021 0:07:48 GMT -5
I don't think he's guilty either. I live in North Carolina and I've come across a lot of people who knew MacDonald, including doctors, nurses and medics who worked with him. They all said that he could be something of an ass, but no one believed he committed those murders. From what I've heard, there were some strange things going on at Fort Bragg at that time and a lot of teenage military dependents thought he was a narc. At that time, it was an open base, meaning that anyone could pass through the gates without having to show identification, so anyone could have gone to his house that night and killed his wife and children and left the base without anyone knowing they'd ever been there. People on drugs do crazy things and they'll do anything to protect their drug supply. I've even heard that some people were afraid that MacDonald had found out about heroin being smuggled into the country in the caskets of men killed in Vietnam. I played the part of Jeffrey MacDonald in the mock trial and after that, I've read a lot about the case. As you said, MacDonald could be an ass and a lot of the teenage army brats called him a narc because he was reporting their drug use to the civilian authorities. The kids were getting the drugs from somewhere and there's a good possibility it was being smuggled in from other countries through the base. MacDonald may not have had any idea what was going on with the smuggling, but if Helena Stoeckley and her weird, druggie friends thought he knew and was about to turn them in, that would be reason enough for them to want to get rid of him. When they broke into his house that night, he was asleep on the living room sofa, so if they came in through the utility room, the first place they would have come to was the master bedroom, where Colette was sleeping. She woke up and started yelling, which triggered the killing frenzy. MacDonald, who was at the other end of the house asleep, didn't hear anything until they made their way through the house and attacked him. Because he was a young man in top condition -- he was a Green Beret -- he was able to fight his attackers. However, he was stabbed and they probably thought he was dead, or dying, and because they had been in the house a while, realized they needed to get out of there. One thing that convinced me MacDonald was telling the truth was a call that was made to his residence by mistake. A soldier named Jimmy Friar was trying to get in touch with another Dr. MacDonald, but when he called the hospital at Fort Bragg, he was given the number of Jeffrey MacDonald. He said the call went through around 2 or 3 a.m. and a laughing woman answered the phone and he heard a man in the background say, "Hang up the goddamned phone!" The jury that convicted MacDonald never heard Friar's testimony, but it was included in our mock trial.
|
|
|
Post by madeline on Sept 27, 2021 21:53:47 GMT -5
One thing that convinced me MacDonald was telling the truth was a call that was made to his residence by mistake. A soldier named Jimmy Friar was trying to get in touch with another Dr. MacDonald, but when he called the hospital at Fort Bragg, he was given the number of Jeffrey MacDonald. He said the call went through around 2 or 3 a.m. and a laughing woman answered the phone and he heard a man in the background say, "Hang up the goddamned phone!" The jury that convicted MacDonald never heard Friar's testimony, but it was included in our mock trial. I was on the jury in the mock trial and the defense made several very convincing points. One was that he was a doctor and if had wanted to get rid of his family, there were ways he could have done it without getting caught, such as food poison, or some other kind of poison. I think he was a jerk and he upset the wrong people, that is, people who were involved in the local drug scene. I believe they went there to kill him that night and because they were high on drugs, things got out of hand and they ended up slaughtering his family.
|
|