Closing Arguments in the Jeffrey MacDonald Trial
A renewed focus was on the DNA and testimony from previous trials about Stoeckley.
On the seventh day of the evidentiary hearing for Jeffrey MacDonald, both teams finish the week with their closing arguments. It could be a long as three week to months until his fate is decided by U.S. District Judge James Fox.
In closing arguments in the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, MacDonald's lawyer wants him exonerated due to DNA evidence presented, along with Helena Stoeckley's confessions to her mother and also her lawyer of claims that she was indeed inside the MacDonald residence.
According to Tuesday's Fayetteville Observer's news report, the federal prosecutor is not persuaded by the DNA evidence found at the scene that was reported on, but not a focus at the time of the initial investigation.
This past week explicit crime scene photos were shown from inside MacDonald's Fort Bragg residence where the deaths of his wife, Colette, and daughters Kristen and Kimberley occurred.
MacDonald's lawyer is Raleigh based, Gordon Widenhouse, who cited statements from past murder trials about Stoeckley being present inside the home and statements that she made to her mother one year before she died in 1983.
Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, 69, is serving three life terms in federal prison. The former Army surgeon, assigned to the Special Forces, still pleads innocent.
Patti Jones
7:43 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
I was just a little girl when this crime took place. I lived in the same neighborhood. I can still remember going to the house to sneak a peek inside. If the prosecution truly has DNA evidence to exonerate Cpt.MacDonald I pray it is correct & not just a ploy to create reasonable doubt. This was such a heinous crime & the victims deserve justice.
Elizabeth
2:18 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
I've always thought he was guilty, based on evidence presented in the book.
Dennis Compton
9:15 am on Thursday, September 27, 2012
Why was his family brutally murdered and he was left with scratches ?
Why did the intruders come there without weapons?
Drug crazed hippies would have left evidence beyond a couple of hairs
The problem is mcDonald's story did not match the evidence