Since 1979, Brian Murtagh has fought to keep convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in prison
WILMINGTON, N.C. — They are old men now, the doctor and the lawyer, ancient adversaries confronting each other one last time.
The doctor shuffles into the courtroom, his feet in socks and slippers, his ankles in chains. Once a swaggering bon vivant with a Maserati, a yacht and a playboy lifestyle, he is now dreadfully diminished, drained of color and of dignity, with a prison pallor and hair gone white, insulted by a prison haircut. He wears a washed-out dun prison-issue jumpsuit with big black letters: INMATE NEW HANOVER COUNTY. The only daub of color is the maroon accordion file he holds. It glistens. It has been so often repaired over the years that it’s more Scotch tape than cardboard. Inside are papers that document a lost life. For nearly half that life, the doctor, 68, has been in federal custody, largely because of the efforts of the government lawyer who sits across the room, at whom he will not look, not even once, in the seven days they will spend together here.
Forty-two years ago, Green Beret Army doctor Jeffrey MacDonald stabbed and bludgeoned to death his pregnant wife, Colette, and his two little girls ... or he didn’t. One currently popular theory is that he didn’t. That’s the contention of the renowned film documentarian Errol Morris, director of “The Thin Blue Line” and “The Fog of War.” When he couldn’t find backers for a movie about the case, Morris wrote the newly released “A Wilderness of Error,” which concludes that MacDonald was railroaded by incompetent cops and overzealous prosecutors, and very likely is no murderer. A New York Times book reviewer agreed, declaring that the book will leave readers “85 percent certain” of MacDonald’s innocence. Also weighing in with an online review was, of all people, Sarah Palin. She loved the book, for reasons of her own.
This evidentiary hearing in September in Wilmington is part of what many believe to be MacDonald’s last chance at freedom. It’s probably the penultimate step in an appeals process that began after the doctor’s initial conviction in 1979 and has continued ever since, driven and financed by a steadfast band of supporters. Private investigators have been deployed; teams of attorneys have been hired and replaced; appellate actions have been filed, argued, dismissed.
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Much more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/since-1979-brian-murtagh-has-fought-to-keep-convicted-murderer-jeffrey-macdonald-in-prison/2012/12/05/3c8bc1c6-2da8-11e2-89d4-040c9330702a_print.html
This article addresses some of the material put forth that declares that he is innocent. It shows Errol Morris in a new light.
I thought he was guilty then, and I haven't changed my mind since. This answers more questions.
= new reply since forum marked as read
