Jeffrey MacDonald: Ex-officer behind infamous 1970 slayings ends release appeal

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Ex-officer behind infamous 1970 slayings ends release appeal

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
September 17, 2021

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A former Army doctor convicted for the infamous 1970 murders of his pregnant wife and two young daughters on a North Carolina base has ended his appeal of a lower court ruling that denied his requested release.

An attorney for Jeffrey MacDonald said in court documents that his client wished to dismiss his appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. Federal prosecutors did not oppose the dismissal in the “Fatal Vision” case, named for a book about the investigation, and the court granted the dismissal Thursday.

MacDonald, who is serving life in prison, had filed an appeal notice in April, two weeks after District Judge Terrence Boyle refused to release him. His lawyers had asked Boyle to let him leave prison because of his deteriorating health. Boyle wrote he lacked authority because a law governing compassionate release requests doesn’t apply to those who committed their crimes before a 1987 cutoff.

“After a searching review of the relevant law, Mr. MacDonald concluded that the decision below was correct as a technical legal matter,” MacDonald’s lawyers said in a statement Friday, referring to Boyle’s order.

MacDonald, 77, is incarcerated at a prison in Cumberland, Maryland, and has chronic kidney disease, skin cancer and high blood pressure, according to court documents.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/crime-north-carolina-raleigh-6e2efed07e7366dde67794e71059706d

[Demovictory9]

1. I saw a doc on this story a few yrs ago

50 years..long time

[Kittycatkat]

2. When you kill children, compassionate release shouldn't be an option.

[Skittles]

3. 50 years ago

I remember reading that he had said the, er, "intruders" were hippies who said ACID IS GROOVY, KILL THE PIGS. As a kid who KNEW actual hippies, I thought to myself, real hippies wouldn't say that, that sounds like something he made up.

[Kittycatkat]

4. yes, made up to sound Charles Manson-y

[Skittles]

5. yup

and I remember when the Tate murders happened, they made it sound like there was drugs and a nekked pool party and all kinds of decadence going on when in reality, Voytek was was sleeping on the couch, Sharon and Jay were sitting on a bed talking, and Abigail was laying in bed reading a book. And that poor teenager Steve Parent was just trying to sell a radio to the caretaker. Just normal stuff.

[marble falls]

6. I can not see how any sort of justice is being served by keeping him in prison any longer.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. He killed his wife and children.

Why then should he be let out?

[marble falls]

8. His being in jail or not doesn't change that in any way. What good is done keeping ...

... him in jail?

[sinkingfeeling]

9. I've always had a reasonable doubt about McDonald's guilt.

I read everything I could get my hands on about the case back in the 1980s.

This case is the basis for "The Fugitive".

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. The actual case for The Fugitive was in the 1950s.

Since that show was aired in the 1960s, something that happened in 1970 could hardly have inspired it.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-sensationalized-murder-trial-inspires-the-fugitive

I'm with those who point out the absurdity of the supposed hippies.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Sorry, confused Sheppard with MacDonald.

[IcyPeas]

12. He should stay in jail for his own good... he's sick...

"He has chronic kidney disease, skin cancer and high blood pressure"

Who'd pay his medical bills if he gets out?