Merged Jeffrey MacDonald did it. He really did.

[JTF]

Irony

The irony of Henriboy's ramblings about William Ivory's disregard for suspects is that Ivory interviewed BOTH Helena Stoeckley/Greg Mitchell, obtained print exemplars from Mitchell, and arranged for Mitchell to take a polygraph exam. CID polygraph examiner Robert Brisentine concluded that Mitchell was not being deceptive when he denied involvement in the MacDonald murders. Ivory and Brisentine were both inducted into the CID Hall of Fame.

http://www.macdonaldcasefacts.com

 

[psychoticstate]

This is completely false. He never even hinted that anyone other than Jeffrey MacDonald killed his family. On the first page Murtagh notes that MacDonald was convicted of all three murders. He later mentions "conviction for these three murders are a sufficient basis to deny him parole." Nothing about Colette killing anyone.

I'd like for Henri to provide a source for the claim that Colette killed Kim and Kristy as well. I've never heard of this theory, much less it being espoused by Brian Murtagh.

I have read every book on this case, as well as multiple documents and there is zero evidence that Colette killed anyone, much less her two girls.

The evidence very clearly points to one perpetrator and that's Jeffrey MacDonald.

 

[JTF]

Shaw's Theory

Henri is attempting to credit Brian Murtagh with being the author of a theory created by CID investigator Robert Shaw. Prior to the Article 32 hearing, the three lead investigators (e.g., Franz Grebner, William Ivory, and Shaw) were interviewed by the defense. Shaw admitted that he had considered a scenario where Colette killed one of the children. Grebner and Ivory did not think Shaw's theory was feasible and Shaw eventually agreed with their assessment.

http://www.macdonaldcasefacts.com

 

[JTF]

Article

Nice article about Blackburn and McGinniss from the Charlotte Observer:

Fatal Vision’ cast narrows


By John Drescher
The (Raleigh) News & Observer
Posted: Monday, Mar. 17, 2014
During the trial of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald in Raleigh in the summer of 1979, the jury toured the Fort Bragg apartment where MacDonald’s pregnant wife and two young daughters were killed.

MacDonald, charged with three murders, was there. So was Jim Blackburn of Raleigh, the assistant U.S. attorney who was prosecuting him.

Unexpectedly, Blackburn found himself alone with MacDonald in the bedroom where MacDonald’s wife, Collette, had been bludgeoned and stabbed nine years earlier. “I thought at the time how strange it was that the two of us should be there, right where they died,” Blackburn told The News & Observer’s Ginny Carroll a few years later.

MacDonald was convicted a few weeks later of second-degree murder in the deaths of Collette, 26, and Kimberly, 5, and first-degree murder in the death of Kristen, 2. He is serving three life sentences. MacDonald insisted then, and still does today, that a group of hippies entered the apartment, chanted “acid is groovy, kill the pigs,” injured him and killed his family.

Joe McGinniss, the writer who brought MacDonald’s story to the world with his 1983 best-selling book, “Fatal Vision,” died last week at 71. His death narrows a bit more the living cast of characters from that unforgettable trial.

Helena Stoeckley, the drug-addled “woman in the floppy hat” who gave multiple stories and testified in the trial, has been dead for more than 30 years. Gone also is U.S. District Judge Franklin Dupree. So is Carroll, the fine reporter who covered the trial for The N&O.

Yet the case lives on. Appeals have taken it before the U.S. Supreme Court seven times. A hearing was held in U.S. District Court in Wilmington in 2012 to consider new DNA evidence and statements made since the trial from a former U.S. marshal and Stoeckley’s mother (both also have died). The judge has not ruled on the 2012 testimony.

The trial’s remaining central characters are defense attorney Wade Smith of Raleigh, 76; prosecutor Brian Murtagh, 67; MacDonald, 70; and prosecutor Blackburn, 69.

Blackburn and McGinniss started on different sides. McGinniss was a journalist and established author. He was recruited by MacDonald to tell his story, although their agreement was that McGinniss was free to write as he saw fit. McGinniss was part of MacDonald’s entourage during the trial, living with the group at the Kappa Alpha house at N.C. State University.

Blackburn knew who McGinniss was, but they didn’t speak during the trial. “I was terrified of his existence,” Blackburn told me last week. “I knew he was going to treat us as a bunch of Southern bumpkins.”

But by the end of the trial, which showed that the physical evidence didn’t match MacDonald’s story, McGinniss was convinced that MacDonald had killed his wife and children. McGinniss wrote to Blackburn, and Blackburn decided to talk. He also cleared the way for McGinniss to interview Murtagh and Freddy Kassab, Collette MacDonald’s stepfather.

Some thought McGinniss had double-crossed MacDonald. New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm said McGinniss was an example of the reporter as a “kind of confidence man, preying on people’s vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.”

Blackburn said McGinniss was “personable, a good listener, a good interviewer, absolutely devoted to pursuing a subject to the end.” They became friends, saw each other from time to time. When Blackburn had legal problems – in 1993, he admitted he had stolen $230,000 from his law firm to cover lies he made to clients – McGinniss wrote him supportive letters.

They had breakfast in Wilmington in 2012 before Blackburn was to testify. McGinniss had sent Blackburn an email that said, “You'll do great. The truth is hard to screw up, unlike lies.”

At the hearing, 33 years after the trial, Blackburn and MacDonald were in the same courtroom again. They did not make eye contact.

 

[Stamuel]

Henri is attempting to credit Brian Murtagh with being the author of a theory created by CID investigator Robert Shaw. Prior to the Article 32 hearing, the three lead investigators (e.g., Franz Grebner, William Ivory, and Shaw) were interviewed by the defense. Shaw admitted that he had considered a scenario where Colette killed one of the children. Grebner and Ivory did not think Shaw's theory was feasible and Shaw eventually agreed with their assessment.





http://www.macdonaldcasefacts.com

Thanks. That makes sense. I figured someone sometime had raised the possibility Colette hurt one of her daughters, and Henri misattributed it to Murtagh. It also makes sense Shaw would have abandoned the idea before the Article 32 hearing.

 

[JTF]

Data Conflation

BEN: Henri has attempted this same tactic with several other issues in this case. For example, he has claimed that Freddy Kassab's theory (e.g., MacDonald had been molesting Kimmie which resulted in Kimmie wetting the master bed) was a part of the prosecution's case at the 1979 trial. The documented record says otherwise.

Kassab did not divulge his theory to Blackburn or Murtagh prior to the 1979 trial. The first time his theory became public knowledge was when Dr. Michael Stone told Janet Malcolm that Kassab confided in him at the 1987 MacDonald VS McGinniss civil trial.

In 1998, Brian Murtagh told Robert Sam Anson that the prosecution presented about 60 percent of their case file at the 1979 trial. The FACT that Kimmie, not Kristen, was the source of the urine stain on the master bed was NOT presented at trial.

http://www.macdonaldcasefacts.com

 

[Henri McPhee]

The point is that Dr. MacDonald was convicted on fabricated evidence, or to put it in plain English on nonsensical rubbish. Murtagh had tunnel vision and Blackburn was a proven crook. Murtagh was only interested in furthering his career. It was not right judgement.

Shaw always held the belief that Colette murdered the two little girls and none of the other simpletons in the Army CID ever disagreed with him about that. That is in the Article 32 transcripts. Kearns was never cross-examined in court about his lunatic theory that Kim wet the bed and also Stombaugh's theory without facts that bodies were carried in a sheet and Colette hit Dr. MacDonald with a hairbrush was discredited in court. It was just the same with the pajama folding experiment, which was never scientifically correct.

I don't think JTF fully appreciates that a thousand evidentiary items is not necessarily legally admissible evidence under the Federal Rules of Evidence. What Kassab's strange beliefs were about possible child molestation or what the soldier said is not evidence in a court or at a trial.

In Blackburn's closing argument he told the jury that pajama-like fibers were found on the murder weapon which was supposed to be conclusive evidence. It wasn't until later after the trial that the defense found out that Frier of the FBI had said those fibers were black wool fibers, probably from Mazerolle's velveteen clothes, which Murtagh deliberately covered up at the trial. I know JTF always insists that there were also pajama fibers but Frier never said that. How would you like to be prosecuted by Murtagh and Blackburn if you were innocent and have Judge Dupree and Judge Fox as the judges?

One juror has been quoted as saying he convicted because no blood or pajama fibers were found where Dr. MacDonald fell unconscious. In fact Shaw or Ivory stated at the Article 32 that blood and pajama fibers were found at that exact place, which was also covered up at the 1979 trial. It's simply not true for JTF to say that Helena Stoeckley or Greg Mitchell or Mazerolle and their accomplices were properly and thoroughly investigated. The Army CID were always only interested in prosecuting Dr. MacDonald. They disregarded leads and suspects.

Helana Stoeckley died soon after appearing on TV to say that she was going to blow the lid off of CIA drug smuggling at Fort Bragg which I have always thought suspicious.

 

[catsmate]

The point is that Dr. MacDonald was convicted on fabricated evidence, or to put it in plain English on nonsensical rubbish.

Unsupported opinion.

Murtagh had tunnel vision and

Unsupported opinion.

Blackburn was a proven crook.

Untrue.

Murtagh was only interested in furthering his career.

Unsupported opinion.

Shaw always held the belief that Colette murdered the two little girls

Untrue.

and none of the other simpletons in the Army CID ever disagreed with him about that.

Untrue.

That is in the Article 32 transcripts.

Untrue.
<much snippage>

Helana Stoeckley died soon after appearing on TV to say that she was going to blow the lid off of CIA drug smuggling at Fort Bragg which I have always thought suspicious.

So you've an attraction to other conspiratorial rubbish.

 

[Stamuel]

Actually, James Blackburn is a convicted embezzler and fraudster. Henri was more or less correct to call him a proven crook. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...010742_1_jim-blackburn-guilty-to-faking-phony



This is of course troubling. However, Blackburn's crimes occurred in 1990-1991 and were not related to the MacDonald case. The evidence, arguments and theories in the MacDonald trial had been mostly worked out by the grand jury hearing before Blackburn was involved at all. Blackburn's corruption does not seem to change anything about the trial or verdict.

 

[Henri McPhee]

It is true.

Dr. Macdonald appealed at the 2005 parole hearing on the ground of actual innocence in that it was a frameup, which is true.

I don't know where JTF gets this idea that other CID agents disagreed with Shaw's theory. It could be from the Joe McGinniss book and TV movie. What is certain is that it was highly conjectural and speculation. What one policeman says is probably true, what two policeman say may be true, but what three policeman say is never true.

This is part of what Shaw testified at the Article 32 in 1970 as to what he thinks happened. Does this make sense to you?

A Well, you are asking me for my opinion?
Q Yes.
A I am not absolutely certain Captain MacDonald murdered that child.
Q What is your opinion as to who might have murdered that child?
A Well, I think that Captain MacDonald murdered his wife and murdered his oldest daughter.
Something had to start it off; and we are all married men, but I do know that the stresses of daily married life can sometimes become almost unbearable, as we all know from our experience; in many cases it does become unbearable for persons and they go under the strain and some of them pack up and leave home and some cause violence in the home, both men and women. And it has been my opinion and I have nothing to back it up, that perhaps Colette MacDonald did something to this child that caused Captain MacDonald to become enraged, and it is only my personal opinion; I think that perhaps after he lost, when he came out of this fit of passion, he began to think rationally again, he may well have come back to this child and may have re-injured her and he might not.

 

[JTF]

Open And Shut

If one elects to separate undiluted facts from red herrings, the only salient conclusion is that Jeffrey MacDonald murdered his pregnant wife and two children, and made a botched attempt to stage the crime scene.

DNA, blood, hairs, fibers, bloody fabric and non-fabric impressions, bloody footprints, and fabric damage evidence in this case points to Jeffrey MacDonald as being the lone perp.

Since his return to prison in 1982, he has lost every major decision rendered by the appellate courts. This includes two District Court judges, the 4th Circuit Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://www.macdonaldcasefacts.com

 

[JTF]

End Of A Myth

I thought the following chain of events would be of interest to those who have more than a cursory understanding of the facts of this case. Since the publication of FATAL VISION, it has always been assumed that a pajama fiber found lodged under Kristen's fingernail was later lost at the Fort Gordon lab. In re-reading some of the legal haggling (e.g., documents from 2001-2005) in regards to DNA testing procedures, I discovered that the pajama fiber was never lost.

The pajama fiber was collected at autopsy, placed in a vial, and sent to Dillard Browning for microscopic comparisons. Browning washed the fiber, mounted it on a slide, and subsequently matched it to MacDonald's pajama top. In FATAL VISION, Joe McGinniss stated that the vial containing the pajama fiber was lost shortly after Browning made his comparisons.

In 1990, Browning stated that he left the fiber on the slide and never returned it to the vial, so that part of McGinniss' claim was true. The fiber, however, was not lost as it remained on the slide and later became a part of the discussions regarding which exhibits were suitable for DNA testing.

In 2004, the Armed Forces Institute Of Pathology sent a letter to Brian Murtagh, and part of that letter addressed the potential DNA testing of this pajama fiber. The AFIP stated that, "This fiber mounted on a slide with a hair may pose several issues. To my knowledge, AFDIL has never made any attempt to remove the coverslip from a slide containing a fiber. While the chemicals added to a slide are meant to dissolve the adhesive used to bind the slide and coverslip, we have no experience as to the type of detrimental effects these strong solvents could pose on a 30 year old fiber. The solvents could very well dissolve the fiber in addition to the adhesive."

The defense could have requested that the AFIP risk the alteration or destruction of the fiber in the hope that DNA could be extracted from the "red adhering material." The 2006 DNA test results demonstrated that the defense did not put in that request. All of the DNA exhibits were hair exemplars, so the inculpatory fiber remains on a slide in its original coverslip.

http://www.macdonaldcasefacts.com

 

[Tiktaalik]

That's interesting. Awaiting future refinements in technique, if needed in the future.

 

[byn63]

Those who place emphasis on supposition, half-truths, innuendo, and fantasy give credence to the notion that MacDonald is a tortured innocent. Those who stick to documented fact have a very different take on this case.

Colette, Kimmie, and Kristen MacDonald were all overkilled whereas MacDonald suffered one severe wound. That wound was a neat, clean stab wound to the right side of his chest and it was only one centimeter in length. To CID and FBI investigators, this indicated that it was self-inflicted. The rest of his wounds were superficial and required no sutures.

I want to clarify the information on the injury inmate suffered. While true technically it is misleading to call the chest wound a stab wound. In fact, the wound was a 1 cm, neat, clean, and precise INCISED wound in the 5th intercostal space.

one must ask "could 4 to 8 drugged out hippies brutally beat and stab a pregnant woman and two little girls and then be calm enough to create an incised wound that didn't even nick the bones?"

 

[byn63]

Its sad to see Morris described that way, because he did play a significant role in freeing a genuinely innocent man from death row with his documentary "The Thin Blue Line."

I'd prefer to think Morris has just been conned.

I am sure that many others would like to believe this, but I have trouble with that because I KNOW that Errol Morris was in contact with JTF, and at least 1 other person who has mountains of evidence/information that counters the nonsensical aspects he wrote in his book. Also, Morris was originally going to include a jacket blurb for the terrible defense book known as Fatal Justice.

 

[byn63]

remembering an episode of "Body of Evidence" --- the profiler stated quite plainly that when a victim is badly injured around the face and head the perpetrator is someone known to and/or close to the victim.

in this case Colette was badly bludgeoned in the face and head; she was unrecognizable. if she had survived even the best plastic surgeon could not have made her face look as if it was never damaged.

another proof that inmate slaughtered Colette, Kimmie, and Kristy.

 

[byn63]

I work in a building that has numerous men who were in the Army in 1970. Several of them are former Green Berets and one is former CID (at Ft Bragg). I got to see what cursing a blue streak really looks like after they spotted my reading material Fatal Vision. These men are furious that inmate has been called a Green Beret AND that he has forever linked this marvelous group of soldiers with a despicable and dishonorable act. Some have even stated that if anyone in that house was a Green Beret it was Colette. Her injuries show a fierce warrior who gave her all to try and protect her children and herself.

 

[byn63]

The following is the summary of the psychological evaluation of inmate by:
Dr. Hirsch L. Silverman Ph.D.
dtd 8/16/79

Summary: MacDonald is a psychopath subject to violence under pressure, rather effeminate, given to overt behavior when faced with emotional stress. Sociopathic individual iwth troublesome psychopathy with an overlay of submerged and confused sexuality.

Despite his hedonism he seems self-destructive, naive, superficial and even illogical at times. Seeks freedom and emancipation for personal removal from contraints, controls, and restrictions.

He seeks attention and is given to denial of truth. Is seriously emotional and gives evidence of secretiveness with questionable moral standards. He is detailistic and lacks insight in seeing the gestalt, the whole quality of things and events and persons, as well as circumstances.

 

[byn63]

I just realized that Henri McPhee (aka at previous boards as Albert Webb and Arthur Thorpe among other names) is here and still posting his nonsensical unsubstantiated theories. I have on many occasions told him that conspiracy theories do not hold water! As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Three men may keep a secret only after two of them are dead".

 

[Tiktaalik]

...Some have even stated that if anyone in that house was a Green Beret it was Colette. Her injuries show a fierce warrior who gave her all to try and protect her children and herself.

Evidence also shows that the youngest daughter (age 2 1/2) fought against her attacker, suffering defensive wounds. Apparently she was a little dynamo, and she went out true to form. Her murder bothers me the most - I can barely stand to think about it.