As with any trial, the conviction of Nicholas McGuffin for the killing of Leah Freeman is being dissected, retried and second guessed in many public forums. Many objections to the verdict stem from the circumstantial nature of the case, people are understandably worried this may be a wrongful conviction. Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending upon your point of view) there wasn’t any video tape of the crime and physical evidence was lost or destroyed long ago by either the killer, his accomplices, (those people with whom Nick confided), or the police or all the above.
Many comments criticize the jury for their finding without hard physical evidence but, in fact, they acted “boldly” as DA Paul Frasier implored them to during his closing argument. Objections to this verdict would seem to imply that many people believe that as long as any killer is clever or adept at covering their tracks they can walk away even if there is a preponderance of circumstantial evidence to conclude their guilt. We might all get away with murder if a jury is to be denied the option of considering circumstantial evidence in their deliberations.
Further, because there are rules that determine the admissibility of evidence in a court of law, what was written about in the papers or presented to the jury does not encompass the sum total of the evidence against Nick McGuffin. Everyone knows lie detector results are not admissible, for example, and some evidence depending upon how it was collected or obtained may also not be admissible or only be allowed under special circumstances. The defense opted not to call one of its witnesses and may not have allowed Nick to testify because then the rules would have allowed the prosecution to enter audio recordings of the defendant’s potentially damning jailhouse phone calls.
Lastly, some of those commenting here, (I have since taken those comments down) and at The World appear to be professional agitators, perhaps are even paid to defend McGuffin in public forums. While I definitely agree there are too many wrongful convictions and that many prosecutors are guilty of knowingly trying innocent people this hasn’t happened in this case. What is unfortunate, however, is that those people who helped McGuffin hide his crime from Leah’s family, even her death for five weeks, are not also tried for the unnecessary and additional pain their actions caused.
An excellent book on the subject of prosecutor malfeasance is Mean Justice
