Jeffrey R. MacDonald
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Robert MacDonald (born October 12, 1943), is an American
convicted in 1979 for the murders of his pregnant wife and two daughters in February 1970. At the time of the murders, MacDonald was an Army
officer, medical doctor and practicing physician
. MacDonald maintains that a group of Charles Manson
-type hippies committed the crimes and has filed several unsuccessful appeals attempting to overturn his convictions.
, Queens
, New York City
, New York
. At Patchogue High School, he was voted both "most popular" and "most likely to succeed", and won a scholarship to Princeton University
. While at Princeton, MacDonald assumed a romantic relationship with Colette Stevenson, whom he had dated while in high school. On September 14, 1963, upon learning Colette was pregnant
with his child, the couple married. Their daughter Kimberley was born on April 18, 1964.
After attending Princeton for three years, he and his family moved to Chicago
in 1964, where he was accepted to Northwestern University
Medical School
. Their second child, Kristen, was born on May 8, 1967. The following year, upon his graduation from medical school, MacDonald completed an internship at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. He decided to join the Army
on July 1, 1969 and the entire family moved to Fort Bragg
, North Carolina
, where he held the rank of Captain. MacDonald was assigned to the Green Berets
as a Group Surgeon to the 3rd Special Forces Group in September 1969.
officers arrived to find Colette, Kimberley, and Kristen all dead in their respective bedrooms.
Colette, who had been pregnant with her third child, was lying on the floor of her bedroom. She had been repeatedly clubbed (both her arms were broken) and stabbed 37 times (21 times with an ice pick and 16 times with a knife). Her husband's torn pajama top was draped upon her chest. On the headboard of the bed the word "pig" was written in blood.
Five-year-old Kimberley was found in her bed, having been clubbed in the head and stabbed in the neck with a knife between eight and ten times. Two-year-old Kristen was found in her own bed; she had been stabbed with a knife 33 times and stabbed with an ice pick 15 times.
MacDonald was found next to his wife alive but wounded. His wounds did not come anywhere close to what his family had suffered. He was immediately taken to nearby Womack Hospital. MacDonald suffered cuts and bruises on his face and chest along with a mild concussion. He also had a stab wound on his left torso in what a staff surgeon referred to as a "clean, small, sharp" incision that caused one lung to partially collapse. He was treated at Womack Hospital and released after one week.
his side of the bed. He was later awakened by the sounds of Colette and Kimberley's screams. As he rose from the living room couch to go to their aid, he was attacked by three male intruders. A fourth intruder, described as a white female with long blond hair and wearing a white floppy hat partially covering her face, stood nearby with a lighted candle and chanted "Acid is groovy, kill the pigs." The three males attacked him with a club and ice pick. During the struggle, MacDonald claimed that his pajama top was pulled over his head to his wrists and he then used it to ward off thrusts from the ice pick. Eventually, MacDonald stated that he was overcome by his assailants and was knocked unconscious in the living room end of the hallway leading to the bedrooms.
and knocked over flower plant. Fibers from MacDonald's torn pajama top were not found in the living room, where he claimed that it was torn. Instead fibers from the pajama top were found under the body of Colette and in Kimberley's and Kristen's bedrooms. One fiber was found under Kristen's fingernail. The murder weapons were found outside the back door. They were a kitchen knife, an ice pick, and a yard of lumber wood; all three were determined to have come from the MacDonald house. The tips of surgical gloves were found beneath the headboard where "pig" was written in blood; they were identical in composition to a supply MacDonald kept in the kitchen.
The MacDonald family all had different blood type
s — a statistical anomaly that was used to track what had happened in the apartment. Investigators theorized that a fight began in the master bedroom between MacDonald and his wife, Colette, possibly over Kristen wetting MacDonald's side of the bed while sleeping there. Investigators speculated that Colette probably hit her husband on the forehead with a hairbrush which resulted in his head wound. As MacDonald retaliated by beating her with a piece of lumber, Kimberley — whose brain serum was found in the doorway — may have walked in after hearing the commotion and was struck at least once on the head, possibly by accident. Believing Colette dead, MacDonald carried the mortally wounded Kimberley back to her bedroom. After stabbing and bludgeoning her (Kimberley's blood was discovered on the pajama top MacDonald said he had not been wearing while in her room), he went to Kristen's room, intent on disposing of the last remaining witness. Before he could do so, Colette — whose blood was found on Kristen's bedcovers and on one wall of the room — apparently regained consciousness, stumbled in, and threw herself over her daughter. After killing both of them, MacDonald wrapped his wife's body in a sheet and carried it back to the master bedroom, leaving a footprint of Colette's blood on his way out of Kristen's bedroom.
C.I.D. investigators then theorized that MacDonald attempted to cover up the murders, using articles on the Manson Family murders that he'd found in an issue of Esquire
in the living room. He then took a scalpel blade from a supply in the hallway closet and went to the adjacent bathroom and stabbed himself once. Putting on surgical gloves from his supply, he went to the master bedroom, where he used Colette's blood to write "pig" on the headboard. Finally, he laid his pajama top over the dead Colette and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest with an ice pick. MacDonald used the telephone to summon an ambulance, discarded the weapons out the back door, and lay by the body of his wife while he waited for the military police to arrive.
On April 6, 1970, Army investigators interrogated MacDonald. Less than a month later, on May 1, the Army formally charged MacDonald with the murder of his family.
into MacDonald's possible guilt, overseen by Colonel Warren Rock, convened on July 5, 1970 and ran through September. MacDonald was represented by Bernard L. Segal, a civilian defense attorney from Philadelphia. Segal's defense concentrated on the poor quality of the C.I.D. investigation and the existence of other suspects, specifically a woman named Helena Stoeckley.
Segal presented evidence that the C.I.D. had not properly managed the crime scene and lost critical evidence, including skin found under Colette's fingernails. In addition, he claimed to have located Helena Stoeckley, the woman that MacDonald claimed to have seen in his apartment during the murders. Stoeckley was a well-known drug user in the area. Witnesses claimed that Stoeckley had admitted involvement in the crimes, and several remembered her wearing clothing similar to what MacDonald had described.
On October 13, 1970, after one of the longest Article 32 hearings in U.S. Army history, Colonel Rock issued a report recommending that charges be dismissed against MacDonald because they were "not true", and he recommended that civilian authorities investigate Stoeckley. In December, MacDonald received an honorable discharge from the Army and returned to his home state New York.
in July 1971, where he was an emergency room physician at the St. Mary Medical Center
. He also made media appearances, most notably on the December 15, 1970 episode of The Dick Cavett Show
, during which he made jokes and complained about the investigation and its focus on him as a suspect.
Alfred Kassab, MacDonald's father-in-law, turned against MacDonald. Initially he was one of MacDonald's supporters during the Article 32 hearing in which he testified in support of MacDonald's innocence; his support lessened after MacDonald's performance on the Cavett show. His support continued to erode after MacDonald refused to provide him with a transcript of the Article 32 hearing. MacDonald also made contradictory claims; in one instance he told Kassab that he and some Army friends had actually tracked down, tortured and eventually murdered one of the alleged killers of Colette and the children, but refused to provide details about who the person was or what he might have told MacDonald. Once Kassab finally received the Article 32 hearing transcript (after lengthy evasions by MacDonald), he noted numerous inconsistencies in MacDonald's testimony. An example was MacDonald's assertion that he had sustained near-life-threatening injuries during the alleged assault on him; Kassab saw MacDonald in the hospital less than 18 hours after the attack and found him sitting up in bed, eating a meal and with very little in the way of bandages or dressing. In March 1971, in company with U.S. Army investigators, Kassab visited the crime scene for several hours in order to test the physical evidence against MacDonald's testimony. His work convinced him that MacDonald himself had committed the crimes. Since the Army's investigation was completed, the only way that Kassab could bring MacDonald to trial was via a citizen's complaint through the Justice Department. The citizen's complaint was filed in early 1972, but was held in limbo because the three murders happened while MacDonald was serving in the U.S. Army, and since he was no longer with the Army, the citizen's complaint was declared moot.
Between 1972 and 1974, the case remained trapped within the files of the Justice Department
as they struggled over whether to prosecute. On April 30, 1974, after much persistence in pursuing the prosecution of MacDonald, Alfred and Mildred Kassab, Colette's stepfather and mother, aided by Peter Kearns, and the Kassabs' attorney Richard C. Cahn of Huntington, NY, presented a citizen's criminal complaint against Jeffrey MacDonald to U.S. Chief District Court Judge Algernon Butler, requesting the convening of a grand jury to indict MacDonald for the three murders. As a result of the complaint, a grand jury
was convened on August 12, 1974. Justice Department attorney Victor Worheide presented the case to the grand jury, and U.S. District Judge Franklin Dupree was assigned to oversee the hearing.
in North Carolina indicted MacDonald on January 24, 1975 and within the hour MacDonald was arrested in California. On January 31, 1975 he was freed on $100,000 bail
pending disposition of the charges. On May 23, 1975, MacDonald was arraigned and pled not guilty to the murders. On July 29, 1975, District Judge Franklin T. Dupree Jr. denied MacDonald's double jeopardy
and speedy trial
arguments and allowed the trial date of August 18, 1975 to stand. On August 15, 1975, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the trial and on January 23, 1976, a panel of that court, in a 2–1 split, ordered the indictment dismissed on speedy trial grounds. An appeal on behalf of the Government led to an 8–0 reinstatement of the indictment by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 1, 1978. On October 22, 1978, the Fourth Circuit rejected MacDonald's double jeopardy arguments and, on March 19, 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review that decision.
The trial began on July 16, 1979 in Raleigh, North Carolina
. Although MacDonald’s lawyers Bernard Segal and Wade Smith were confident of an acquittal
from the first day, one thing after another went badly for the defense. It began when Judge Dupree refused to admit into evidence a psychiatric evaluation of MacDonald, which suggested that someone of his personality type was unable to kill his wife and children. Dupree explained that since no insanity plea had been entered for MacDonald, he did not want the trial bogged down by contradictory psychiatric testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses. Dupree allowed the prosecution to admit into evidence the 1970 copy of Esquire magazine, found in the MacDonald household, part of which contained the lengthy article of the Manson Family murders in August 1969. The government attorneys, James Blackburn and Brian Murtagh, wanted to introduce the magazine and suggest that this is where MacDonald got the idea of blaming a hippie
gang for the murders.
Government lab technicians testified that MacDonald’s blue, button-down pajama top had 48 small, smooth and cylindrical ice pick holes through it. In order for this to have happened, the pajama top would need to remain stationary, an unlikely occurrence if MacDonald had wrapped it around his hands to defend himself from the blows from an attacker wielding an ice pick. Also, by folding the pajama top one particular way, the government demonstrated how all 48 tears could have been made by 21 thrusts of the ice pick, the same number of times that Colette MacDonald had been stabbed with the ice pick and in an identical pattern, implying that she had been repeatedly stabbed through the pajama top while it was lying on over her. Prosecuting attorneys Murtagh and Blackburn staged an impromptu re-enactment of the alleged attack on MacDonald. Murtagh wrapped a pajama top around his hands and tried to fend off a series of blows that Blackburn was inflicting on him with a similar ice pick. The prosecution made two points to the demonstration. First, the ice pick holes in the pajama top were jagged and torn, not smoothly cylindrical as the holes in MacDonald’s pajama jacket. Also, Murtagh received a small wound on his left hand. When MacDonald had been examined at Womack Hospital, he had no wounds on his arms or hands which were consistent with a struggle. The inference was obvious and highly damaging to the defense.
Another piece of damaging evidence against MacDonald was an audio tape made of the April 6, 1970 interview by military investigators. Listening to this tape, the jury heard MacDonald's matter-of-fact, indifferent recitation of the murders. They heard him become angry, defensive, and emotional in response to suggestions by the investigators that he had committed the murders. He asked the investigators why would they think he, who had a beautiful family and everything going for him, could have murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in cold blood for no reason. The jury also heard the investigators confront MacDonald with their knowledge of his extramarital affairs, to which MacDonald calmly responded, “Oh... you guys are more thorough than I thought.”
Despite the evidence, the prosecution was hampered by the lack of motive for MacDonald to have committed the murders since he had no history of violence or domestic abuse with his wife or children. Since Judge Dupree refused both the defense and prosecution requests for any psychiatric evaluation to be done for MacDonald, he also refused the prosecution's request to allow into evidence any part of the Article 32 transcripts from MacDonald's 1970 U.S. Army hearing. Dupree ruled that since the current trial was a civilian trial and that the Article 32 military hearing had several reports from the military investigators, which claimed that MacDonald may have murdered his wife and two daughters in a drug-induced rage, was considered bias and hearsay.
During the defense stage of the trial, Segal called Helena Stoeckley to the witness stand, intent on extracting a confession from her that she had been one of the intruders MacDonald claimed had entered his family's apartment, murdered his family and attacked him. Over the past nine years, Stoeckley had made several contradictory statements regarding the murders, sometimes saying she was involved, other times stating she had no recollection of her whereabouts the evening of the murders. Just prior to her testimony, separate interviews had been conducted by the defense and the prosecution, during which she denied ever being in the MacDonald apartment or ever seeing MacDonald before that very day in court. Afterwards, Segal argued for the introduction of evidence from other witnesses to whom Stoeckley had confessed. Dupree refused, in the absence of any evidence, to connect Stoeckley to the scene, and noting her history of long-term drug abuse.
MacDonald's defense called forensic expert James Thornton to the stand. He unsuccessfully tried to rebut the government's contention that the pajama top was stationary on Colette's chest, rather than wrapped around MacDonald's wrists as he warded off blows, by conducting an experiment wherein a similar pajama top was placed over a ham, moved back and forth on a sled, and stabbed at with an ice pick. The defense also called several character witnesses. MacDonald took the witness stand as the last defense witness. Under Segal’s direct examination, MacDonald tearfully denied committing the murders. When Blackburn cross-examined him, however, MacDonald could offer no explanation against the evidence, and was often hostile and combative with the prosecutor.
On August 29, 1979, MacDonald was convicted of one count of first-degree murder in the death of Kristen and two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Colette and Kimberley after the jury delibrated for just over six hours. Dupree immediately gave MacDonald a life sentence for each of the three murders, to be served consecutively. He also revoked MacDonald's bail. Soon after the verdict, MacDonald appealed Dupree's bail revocation ruling, asking that bail be granted pending the outcome of his appeal. On September 7, 1979, this application was rejected, and an appeal on bail was further rejected by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on November 20, 1979.
to write a book about the case. He was given full access to MacDonald and the defense during the trial. MacDonald expected that the book would be about his innocence in the murders of his family. However, McGinniss' book, Fatal Vision
, first published in the spring of 1983, portrayed MacDonald as a sociopath
who was indeed guilty of killing his family. The book contains excerpts from court transcripts and sections entitled, "The Voice of Jeffrey MacDonald," which were based on tape recordings made by MacDonald following his conviction.
MacDonald subsequently sued McGinniss in 1987 for fraud
, claiming that McGinniss pretended to believe MacDonald innocent after he came to the conclusion that MacDonald was guilty, in order to continue MacDonald's cooperation with him. After a trial, which resulted in a mistrial on August 21, 1987, McGinniss and MacDonald settled out of court for $325,000 on November 23, 1987.
The Journalist and the Murderer
, written by Janet Malcolm
and published in 1990, is about the relationship between journalists and their subjects, and explores the relationship between McGinniss and MacDonald as an example of the author's thesis
that, "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible."
Malcolm maintained that McGinniss tricked McDonald—a claim that McGinniss subsequently responded to in the epilogue of a later edition of Fatal Vision.
rights to a speedy trial
. On August 22, 1980, MacDonald was freed on $100,000 bail. He subsequently returned to work at St. Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach, California as the Director of Emergency Medicine.
On December 18, 1980, the Fourth Circuit Court split 5–5 to hear the case en banc
and thus the earlier decision stood. On May 26, 1981, the United States Supreme Court accepted the case for consideration and on December 7, 1981, heard oral arguments. On March 31, 1982, they ruled 6–3 that MacDonald's rights to a speedy trial were not violated. MacDonald was rearrested and returned to prison. Defense lawyers filed a new motion for MacDonald to be freed on bail pending appeal, but the Fourth Circuit refused. MacDonald's remaining points of appeal were heard on June 9, 1982 and his convictions were unanimously affirmed on August 16, 1982. A further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was refused on January 10, 1983. It was shortly after this that MacDonald's licenses to practice medicine in both North Carolina and California were revoked.
Helena Stoeckley's decomposed body was found on January 14, 1983; it was believed she had been dead several days.
On March 1, 1985, Dupree rejected all defense motions for a new trial. Lawyers for MacDonald appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Dupree's ruling and refused to reopen the case. On October 6, 1986 the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision.
On March 27, 1991, MacDonald became eligible for parole, but he did not apply, continuing to vehemently maintain his innocence.
On July 8, 1991, Dupree, after hearing arguments that MacDonald should be granted a new murder trial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, denied the petition. On October 3, MacDonald's defense counsel appealed Judge Dupree's ruling on the grounds of judicial bias. On June 2, 1992, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a new trial for MacDonald. They stated that the materials now introduced should have been presented by MacDonald's then-lawyer, Brian O'Neill, in the 1984-85 appeal. Therefore, all rights to further appeals were forfeited. The ruling was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 30 of that same year.
Judge Dupree passed away after a short illness on December 17, 1995. MacDonald's former in-laws, his wife Colette's mother Mildred, and stepfather Alfred Kassab, who brought the MacDonald case to the Justice Department, both died in 1994 within a few months of each other; she on January 19, and he on October 24.
The courts ruled that Dupree had acted correctly when he refused to let the jury see a transcript of the 1970 Article 32 military hearing
, and, because this was not an insanity trial, Judge Dupree had also acted properly in not allowing the jurors to hear any of the psychiatric testimony. Had he done so, the jurors would have learned that none of the doctors hired by the defense, or who worked for the Army or government at Walter Reed Hospital, had concluded that MacDonald was psychologically incapable of committing the murders. The courts have also ruled that Stoeckley's confessions of committing the murders were unreliable and at odds with the established facts of the case, and that her treatment at trial was correct. During trial, she was arrested under a material witness warrant and testified before the jury that she could not remember her activities on the evening of the murders due to substantial drug use; witnesses to whom she had confessed were not allowed to testify.
MacDonald was granted leave to file his fourth appeal on January 12, 2006. This latest appeal is based on the 2005 sworn affidavit
of Jimmy Britt, a decorated retired United States Marshal who worked as such during the trial. Britt states that he heard the material witness in the case, Helena Stoeckley, admit to the prosecutor of the case, James Blackburn, that she was present at the MacDonald residence at the time of the murders and that Blackburn threatened her with prosecution if she testified. Stoeckley, however, met with counsel for the defense prior to this alleged meeting with Blackburn, and she told them that she had no memory of her whereabouts the night of the murders. Defense Attorney Wade Smith advised Dupree that Stoeckley had testified on the stand essentially the same as she had stated in the defense interviews. Also, she contacted Dupree during her retention as a material witness to claim she was terrified, not of the prosecutors, but of Bernie Segal, the lead defense attorney. Britt died on October 19, 2008.
On April 16, 2007, MacDonald's attorneys filed an affidavit of Stoeckley's mother, in which she states that her daughter confessed to her twice that she was at the MacDonald residence on the evening of the murders and that she was afraid of the prosecutors. Her past statements concerning her daughter are at odds with the details contained in her affidavit. MacDonald has requested to expand the appeal to include all the evidence amassed at trial, evidence which he claims was discovered subsequent to the trial (for example, statements of individuals to whom Stoeckely had made confessions to) and the DNA
results completed in 2006. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals granted MacDonald's motion for a successive habeas
petition and remanded the matter back to the District Court Eastern Division for a decision. In November 2008, Judge Fox denied MacDonald's motion regarding the statement of Britt. This denial was based on the merits of the claim, generally that Stoeckley was unreliable, as she had made many, varying statements regarding the murders. Also, that MacDonald's claim that she was expected to testify in manner favorable to him until threatened by Blackburn is contradicted by the trial records. MacDonald's motions regarding the DNA results and the statement of Helena Stoeckley's mother were also denied. The denial of these two motions was based on jurisdiction issues, specifically that MacDonald had not obtained the required pre-filing authorization from the Circuit Court for these motions to the District Court.
Subsequent to the November 2008 decision, a government motion to modify the decision to reflect that Britt's claims were not factual was denied. Included with the motion was jail documentation establishing that Stoeckley was originally confined to the jail in Pickens, South Carolina
, not Greenville, South Carolina
, as Britt had claimed. Also included were custody commitment and release forms indicating that agents other than Britt transported Stoeckley to the trial. MacDonald appealed the district court's denial of his claim to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which held oral arguments on March 23, 2010, and subsequently reversed the District Court's decision, remanding MacDonald's claims back to the District Court with instructions for consideration.
MacDonald is currently being held in the New Hanover County Jail, where he was transferred on October 19, 2011 to await evidentiary hearings in his upcoming appeal.
MacDonald claims that unidentified fingerprints and fibers found in the apartment were never matched to anyone known to have been in the house prior to or after the murders and that these prints are evidence of intruders. However, the prints do not match anyone named by MacDonald as the intruders, and fingerprint exemplars of the children were not obtained and Colette's fingerprint exemplars were of poor quality, as they were taken subsequent to embalming.
Other claims of withheld evidence involve two unidentified 22 inch (56 cm) long synthetic hairs were found in a hairbrush, but not pointed out specifically to the defense, and a minute spot of blood that was either type O or type B (MacDonald's blood type) that was found in the hallway. MacDonald supporters continue to insist that this was not disclosed to the defense, despite the existence of the trial transcripts which clearly show this spot was indeed disclosed and discussed. Supporters of MacDonald also point to unsourced black wool fibers found on Colette MacDonald's mouth and shoulder as evidence of intruders that the government deliberately did not report to the defense.
In 1995, two MacDonald supporters, Jerry Allen Potter and Fred Bost, wrote Fatal Justice, a book meant to both refute McGinniss' Fatal Vision
and present the evidence they claimed had been hidden by government prosecutors.
DNA test results released by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory
on March 10, 2006, showed that neither Stoeckley's nor Mitchell's DNA matched any of the tested exhibits. A limb hair found stuck to the left palm of Colette MacDonald matched the DNA profile of Jeffrey MacDonald. MacDonald's DNA profile also matched body hairs found on the multi-colored bedspread from the master bed and on the top sheet of Kristen MacDonald's bed. A hair found in Colette's right palm was sourced as her own. Three hairs, one from the bedsheet, one found in Colette's body outline in the area of her legs, and one found beneath the fingernail of Kristen, did not match the DNA profile of any MacDonald family member or known suspect.
MacDonald was unsuccessful in incorporating a motion regarding the DNA results into his motion regarding the claims of Britt, with the court stating that MacDonald must obtain a pre-authorization for what should be a separate motion regarding the DNA results. His appeal of the circuit court's decision is currently under consideration by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
, Maryland
; however, he was recently transferred to the New Hanover County jail in Wilmington, North Carolina to await upcoming evidentiary hearings in his appeal. He continues to maintain his innocence. His projected "release date" after serving his three consecutive life terms is April 5, 2071.http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=jeffrey&Middle=&LastName=macdonald&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=0&y=0 At the urging of his second wife (whom he married in 2002) and his attorneys, he was granted a parole
hearing on May 10, 2005. During the hearing, he did not admit guilt and argued that he is "factually innocent." His parole request was immediately denied. His next scheduled parole hearing will be in May 2020.http://cjonline.com/stories/051105/pag_formergreenberet.shtml
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
convicted in 1979 for the murders of his pregnant wife and two daughters in February 1970. At the time of the murders, MacDonald was an Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
officer, medical doctor and practicing physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. MacDonald maintains that a group of Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
-type hippies committed the crimes and has filed several unsuccessful appeals attempting to overturn his convictions.
Early life
Jeffrey Robert MacDonald was born in JamaicaJamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. At Patchogue High School, he was voted both "most popular" and "most likely to succeed", and won a scholarship to Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. While at Princeton, MacDonald assumed a romantic relationship with Colette Stevenson, whom he had dated while in high school. On September 14, 1963, upon learning Colette was pregnant
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
with his child, the couple married. Their daughter Kimberley was born on April 18, 1964.
After attending Princeton for three years, he and his family moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1964, where he was accepted to Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
Medical School
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois and situated near Lake Michigan and the Magnificent Mile, is one of Northwestern University's 11 schools and colleges...
. Their second child, Kristen, was born on May 8, 1967. The following year, upon his graduation from medical school, MacDonald completed an internship at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. He decided to join the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
on July 1, 1969 and the entire family moved to Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, where he held the rank of Captain. MacDonald was assigned to the Green Berets
United States Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and...
as a Group Surgeon to the 3rd Special Forces Group in September 1969.
The murders
At 3:42 a.m. on the morning of February 17, 1970, dispatchers at Fort Bragg received an emergency phone call from MacDonald, who reported a "stabbing." Four responding military policeMilitary police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
officers arrived to find Colette, Kimberley, and Kristen all dead in their respective bedrooms.
Colette, who had been pregnant with her third child, was lying on the floor of her bedroom. She had been repeatedly clubbed (both her arms were broken) and stabbed 37 times (21 times with an ice pick and 16 times with a knife). Her husband's torn pajama top was draped upon her chest. On the headboard of the bed the word "pig" was written in blood.
Five-year-old Kimberley was found in her bed, having been clubbed in the head and stabbed in the neck with a knife between eight and ten times. Two-year-old Kristen was found in her own bed; she had been stabbed with a knife 33 times and stabbed with an ice pick 15 times.
MacDonald was found next to his wife alive but wounded. His wounds did not come anywhere close to what his family had suffered. He was immediately taken to nearby Womack Hospital. MacDonald suffered cuts and bruises on his face and chest along with a mild concussion. He also had a stab wound on his left torso in what a staff surgeon referred to as a "clean, small, sharp" incision that caused one lung to partially collapse. He was treated at Womack Hospital and released after one week.
MacDonald's account
MacDonald told investigators that on the evening of February 16, he had fallen asleep on the living room couch. He told investigators that he was sleeping on the couch because his youngest daughter, Kristen, had been in bed with his wife and had wetBedwetting
Nocturnal enuresis, commonly called bedwetting, is involuntary urination while asleep after the age at which bladder control usually occurs. Nocturnal enuresis is considered primary when a child has not yet had a prolonged period of being dry...
his side of the bed. He was later awakened by the sounds of Colette and Kimberley's screams. As he rose from the living room couch to go to their aid, he was attacked by three male intruders. A fourth intruder, described as a white female with long blond hair and wearing a white floppy hat partially covering her face, stood nearby with a lighted candle and chanted "Acid is groovy, kill the pigs." The three males attacked him with a club and ice pick. During the struggle, MacDonald claimed that his pajama top was pulled over his head to his wrists and he then used it to ward off thrusts from the ice pick. Eventually, MacDonald stated that he was overcome by his assailants and was knocked unconscious in the living room end of the hallway leading to the bedrooms.
Investigation
The army's Criminal Investigation Division (C.I.D.) did not believe MacDonald's version of events. As they studied the physical evidence, it did not seem to support the story told by MacDonald. The living room, where MacDonald had supposedly fought for his life against three armed assailants, showed little sign of a struggle apart from an overturned coffee tableCoffee table
A coffee table, also called a cocktail table, is a style of long, low table which is designed to be placed in front of a sofa, to support beverages , magazines, books , and other small items to be used while sitting, such as beverage coasters. Coffee tables are usually found in the living room or...
and knocked over flower plant. Fibers from MacDonald's torn pajama top were not found in the living room, where he claimed that it was torn. Instead fibers from the pajama top were found under the body of Colette and in Kimberley's and Kristen's bedrooms. One fiber was found under Kristen's fingernail. The murder weapons were found outside the back door. They were a kitchen knife, an ice pick, and a yard of lumber wood; all three were determined to have come from the MacDonald house. The tips of surgical gloves were found beneath the headboard where "pig" was written in blood; they were identical in composition to a supply MacDonald kept in the kitchen.
The MacDonald family all had different blood type
Blood type
A blood type is a classification of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells . These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins, or glycolipids, depending on the blood group system...
s — a statistical anomaly that was used to track what had happened in the apartment. Investigators theorized that a fight began in the master bedroom between MacDonald and his wife, Colette, possibly over Kristen wetting MacDonald's side of the bed while sleeping there. Investigators speculated that Colette probably hit her husband on the forehead with a hairbrush which resulted in his head wound. As MacDonald retaliated by beating her with a piece of lumber, Kimberley — whose brain serum was found in the doorway — may have walked in after hearing the commotion and was struck at least once on the head, possibly by accident. Believing Colette dead, MacDonald carried the mortally wounded Kimberley back to her bedroom. After stabbing and bludgeoning her (Kimberley's blood was discovered on the pajama top MacDonald said he had not been wearing while in her room), he went to Kristen's room, intent on disposing of the last remaining witness. Before he could do so, Colette — whose blood was found on Kristen's bedcovers and on one wall of the room — apparently regained consciousness, stumbled in, and threw herself over her daughter. After killing both of them, MacDonald wrapped his wife's body in a sheet and carried it back to the master bedroom, leaving a footprint of Colette's blood on his way out of Kristen's bedroom.
C.I.D. investigators then theorized that MacDonald attempted to cover up the murders, using articles on the Manson Family murders that he'd found in an issue of Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
in the living room. He then took a scalpel blade from a supply in the hallway closet and went to the adjacent bathroom and stabbed himself once. Putting on surgical gloves from his supply, he went to the master bedroom, where he used Colette's blood to write "pig" on the headboard. Finally, he laid his pajama top over the dead Colette and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest with an ice pick. MacDonald used the telephone to summon an ambulance, discarded the weapons out the back door, and lay by the body of his wife while he waited for the military police to arrive.
On April 6, 1970, Army investigators interrogated MacDonald. Less than a month later, on May 1, the Army formally charged MacDonald with the murder of his family.
Article 32 hearing
An initial Army Article 32 hearingArticle 32 hearing
An Article 32 hearing is a proceeding under the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice, similar to that of a preliminary hearing in civilian law. Its name is derived from UCMJ section VII Article An Article 32 hearing is a proceeding under the United States Uniform Code of Military...
into MacDonald's possible guilt, overseen by Colonel Warren Rock, convened on July 5, 1970 and ran through September. MacDonald was represented by Bernard L. Segal, a civilian defense attorney from Philadelphia. Segal's defense concentrated on the poor quality of the C.I.D. investigation and the existence of other suspects, specifically a woman named Helena Stoeckley.
Segal presented evidence that the C.I.D. had not properly managed the crime scene and lost critical evidence, including skin found under Colette's fingernails. In addition, he claimed to have located Helena Stoeckley, the woman that MacDonald claimed to have seen in his apartment during the murders. Stoeckley was a well-known drug user in the area. Witnesses claimed that Stoeckley had admitted involvement in the crimes, and several remembered her wearing clothing similar to what MacDonald had described.
On October 13, 1970, after one of the longest Article 32 hearings in U.S. Army history, Colonel Rock issued a report recommending that charges be dismissed against MacDonald because they were "not true", and he recommended that civilian authorities investigate Stoeckley. In December, MacDonald received an honorable discharge from the Army and returned to his home state New York.
Justice Department
After the Article 32 hearing MacDonald returned to work as a doctor, briefly in New York and then in Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
in July 1971, where he was an emergency room physician at the St. Mary Medical Center
St. Mary Medical Center (Long Beach)
St. Mary Medical Center is a hospital in Long Beach, California, USA. It is currently operated by Catholic Healthcare West. SMMC has all private acute care rooms for patients.-Services:...
. He also made media appearances, most notably on the December 15, 1970 episode of The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
, during which he made jokes and complained about the investigation and its focus on him as a suspect.
Alfred Kassab, MacDonald's father-in-law, turned against MacDonald. Initially he was one of MacDonald's supporters during the Article 32 hearing in which he testified in support of MacDonald's innocence; his support lessened after MacDonald's performance on the Cavett show. His support continued to erode after MacDonald refused to provide him with a transcript of the Article 32 hearing. MacDonald also made contradictory claims; in one instance he told Kassab that he and some Army friends had actually tracked down, tortured and eventually murdered one of the alleged killers of Colette and the children, but refused to provide details about who the person was or what he might have told MacDonald. Once Kassab finally received the Article 32 hearing transcript (after lengthy evasions by MacDonald), he noted numerous inconsistencies in MacDonald's testimony. An example was MacDonald's assertion that he had sustained near-life-threatening injuries during the alleged assault on him; Kassab saw MacDonald in the hospital less than 18 hours after the attack and found him sitting up in bed, eating a meal and with very little in the way of bandages or dressing. In March 1971, in company with U.S. Army investigators, Kassab visited the crime scene for several hours in order to test the physical evidence against MacDonald's testimony. His work convinced him that MacDonald himself had committed the crimes. Since the Army's investigation was completed, the only way that Kassab could bring MacDonald to trial was via a citizen's complaint through the Justice Department. The citizen's complaint was filed in early 1972, but was held in limbo because the three murders happened while MacDonald was serving in the U.S. Army, and since he was no longer with the Army, the citizen's complaint was declared moot.
Between 1972 and 1974, the case remained trapped within the files of the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
as they struggled over whether to prosecute. On April 30, 1974, after much persistence in pursuing the prosecution of MacDonald, Alfred and Mildred Kassab, Colette's stepfather and mother, aided by Peter Kearns, and the Kassabs' attorney Richard C. Cahn of Huntington, NY, presented a citizen's criminal complaint against Jeffrey MacDonald to U.S. Chief District Court Judge Algernon Butler, requesting the convening of a grand jury to indict MacDonald for the three murders. As a result of the complaint, a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
was convened on August 12, 1974. Justice Department attorney Victor Worheide presented the case to the grand jury, and U.S. District Judge Franklin Dupree was assigned to oversee the hearing.
Trial and conviction
A grand juryGrand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in North Carolina indicted MacDonald on January 24, 1975 and within the hour MacDonald was arrested in California. On January 31, 1975 he was freed on $100,000 bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
pending disposition of the charges. On May 23, 1975, MacDonald was arraigned and pled not guilty to the murders. On July 29, 1975, District Judge Franklin T. Dupree Jr. denied MacDonald's double jeopardy
Double jeopardy
Double jeopardy is a procedural defense that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same, or similar charges following a legitimate acquittal or conviction...
and speedy trial
Speedy trial
Speedy trial refers to one of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution to defendants in criminal proceedings. The right to a speedy trial, guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, is intended to ensure that defendants are not subjected to unreasonably lengthy incarceration prior to a fair...
arguments and allowed the trial date of August 18, 1975 to stand. On August 15, 1975, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the trial and on January 23, 1976, a panel of that court, in a 2–1 split, ordered the indictment dismissed on speedy trial grounds. An appeal on behalf of the Government led to an 8–0 reinstatement of the indictment by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 1, 1978. On October 22, 1978, the Fourth Circuit rejected MacDonald's double jeopardy arguments and, on March 19, 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review that decision.
The trial began on July 16, 1979 in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
. Although MacDonald’s lawyers Bernard Segal and Wade Smith were confident of an acquittal
Acquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
from the first day, one thing after another went badly for the defense. It began when Judge Dupree refused to admit into evidence a psychiatric evaluation of MacDonald, which suggested that someone of his personality type was unable to kill his wife and children. Dupree explained that since no insanity plea had been entered for MacDonald, he did not want the trial bogged down by contradictory psychiatric testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses. Dupree allowed the prosecution to admit into evidence the 1970 copy of Esquire magazine, found in the MacDonald household, part of which contained the lengthy article of the Manson Family murders in August 1969. The government attorneys, James Blackburn and Brian Murtagh, wanted to introduce the magazine and suggest that this is where MacDonald got the idea of blaming a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
gang for the murders.
Government lab technicians testified that MacDonald’s blue, button-down pajama top had 48 small, smooth and cylindrical ice pick holes through it. In order for this to have happened, the pajama top would need to remain stationary, an unlikely occurrence if MacDonald had wrapped it around his hands to defend himself from the blows from an attacker wielding an ice pick. Also, by folding the pajama top one particular way, the government demonstrated how all 48 tears could have been made by 21 thrusts of the ice pick, the same number of times that Colette MacDonald had been stabbed with the ice pick and in an identical pattern, implying that she had been repeatedly stabbed through the pajama top while it was lying on over her. Prosecuting attorneys Murtagh and Blackburn staged an impromptu re-enactment of the alleged attack on MacDonald. Murtagh wrapped a pajama top around his hands and tried to fend off a series of blows that Blackburn was inflicting on him with a similar ice pick. The prosecution made two points to the demonstration. First, the ice pick holes in the pajama top were jagged and torn, not smoothly cylindrical as the holes in MacDonald’s pajama jacket. Also, Murtagh received a small wound on his left hand. When MacDonald had been examined at Womack Hospital, he had no wounds on his arms or hands which were consistent with a struggle. The inference was obvious and highly damaging to the defense.
Another piece of damaging evidence against MacDonald was an audio tape made of the April 6, 1970 interview by military investigators. Listening to this tape, the jury heard MacDonald's matter-of-fact, indifferent recitation of the murders. They heard him become angry, defensive, and emotional in response to suggestions by the investigators that he had committed the murders. He asked the investigators why would they think he, who had a beautiful family and everything going for him, could have murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in cold blood for no reason. The jury also heard the investigators confront MacDonald with their knowledge of his extramarital affairs, to which MacDonald calmly responded, “Oh... you guys are more thorough than I thought.”
Despite the evidence, the prosecution was hampered by the lack of motive for MacDonald to have committed the murders since he had no history of violence or domestic abuse with his wife or children. Since Judge Dupree refused both the defense and prosecution requests for any psychiatric evaluation to be done for MacDonald, he also refused the prosecution's request to allow into evidence any part of the Article 32 transcripts from MacDonald's 1970 U.S. Army hearing. Dupree ruled that since the current trial was a civilian trial and that the Article 32 military hearing had several reports from the military investigators, which claimed that MacDonald may have murdered his wife and two daughters in a drug-induced rage, was considered bias and hearsay.
During the defense stage of the trial, Segal called Helena Stoeckley to the witness stand, intent on extracting a confession from her that she had been one of the intruders MacDonald claimed had entered his family's apartment, murdered his family and attacked him. Over the past nine years, Stoeckley had made several contradictory statements regarding the murders, sometimes saying she was involved, other times stating she had no recollection of her whereabouts the evening of the murders. Just prior to her testimony, separate interviews had been conducted by the defense and the prosecution, during which she denied ever being in the MacDonald apartment or ever seeing MacDonald before that very day in court. Afterwards, Segal argued for the introduction of evidence from other witnesses to whom Stoeckley had confessed. Dupree refused, in the absence of any evidence, to connect Stoeckley to the scene, and noting her history of long-term drug abuse.
MacDonald's defense called forensic expert James Thornton to the stand. He unsuccessfully tried to rebut the government's contention that the pajama top was stationary on Colette's chest, rather than wrapped around MacDonald's wrists as he warded off blows, by conducting an experiment wherein a similar pajama top was placed over a ham, moved back and forth on a sled, and stabbed at with an ice pick. The defense also called several character witnesses. MacDonald took the witness stand as the last defense witness. Under Segal’s direct examination, MacDonald tearfully denied committing the murders. When Blackburn cross-examined him, however, MacDonald could offer no explanation against the evidence, and was often hostile and combative with the prosecutor.
On August 29, 1979, MacDonald was convicted of one count of first-degree murder in the death of Kristen and two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Colette and Kimberley after the jury delibrated for just over six hours. Dupree immediately gave MacDonald a life sentence for each of the three murders, to be served consecutively. He also revoked MacDonald's bail. Soon after the verdict, MacDonald appealed Dupree's bail revocation ruling, asking that bail be granted pending the outcome of his appeal. On September 7, 1979, this application was rejected, and an appeal on bail was further rejected by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on November 20, 1979.
Fatal Vision
In June 1979, MacDonald chose Joe McGinnissJoe McGinniss
Joe McGinniss is an American author of nonfiction and novels. He first came to prominence with the best-selling The Selling of the President, 1968 which described the marketing of then-presidential candidate Richard Nixon, and has authored 11 works since that time...
to write a book about the case. He was given full access to MacDonald and the defense during the trial. MacDonald expected that the book would be about his innocence in the murders of his family. However, McGinniss' book, Fatal Vision
Fatal Vision
Fatal Vision is a best-selling true crime book published in 1983 by journalist and author Joe McGinniss. The following year it was made into an NBC television miniseries under the same name. Fatal Vision is the real-life story of Captain Jeffrey MacDonald, M.D., who in 1979 was convicted of the...
, first published in the spring of 1983, portrayed MacDonald as a sociopath
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
who was indeed guilty of killing his family. The book contains excerpts from court transcripts and sections entitled, "The Voice of Jeffrey MacDonald," which were based on tape recordings made by MacDonald following his conviction.
MacDonald subsequently sued McGinniss in 1987 for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, claiming that McGinniss pretended to believe MacDonald innocent after he came to the conclusion that MacDonald was guilty, in order to continue MacDonald's cooperation with him. After a trial, which resulted in a mistrial on August 21, 1987, McGinniss and MacDonald settled out of court for $325,000 on November 23, 1987.
The Journalist and the Murderer
The Journalist and the Murderer
The Journalist and the Murderer is a 1990 study by Janet Malcolm about the ethics of journalism published by Alfred A. Knopf/Random House. Attracting heavy criticism upon first publication, it is now regarded as a "seminal" work, and ranks ninety-seventh on Random House's The Modern Library's list...
, written by Janet Malcolm
Janet Malcolm
Janet Malcolm is an American writer and journalist on staff at The New Yorker magazine. She is the author of Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession , In the Freud Archives and The Journalist and the Murderer ....
and published in 1990, is about the relationship between journalists and their subjects, and explores the relationship between McGinniss and MacDonald as an example of the author's thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
that, "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible."
Malcolm maintained that McGinniss tricked McDonald—a claim that McGinniss subsequently responded to in the epilogue of a later edition of Fatal Vision.
Appeals
On July 29, 1980, a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed MacDonald's conviction in a 2–1 split on the grounds that the delay in bringing him to trial violated his Sixth AmendmentSixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions...
rights to a speedy trial
Speedy trial
Speedy trial refers to one of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution to defendants in criminal proceedings. The right to a speedy trial, guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, is intended to ensure that defendants are not subjected to unreasonably lengthy incarceration prior to a fair...
. On August 22, 1980, MacDonald was freed on $100,000 bail. He subsequently returned to work at St. Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach, California as the Director of Emergency Medicine.
On December 18, 1980, the Fourth Circuit Court split 5–5 to hear the case en banc
En banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
and thus the earlier decision stood. On May 26, 1981, the United States Supreme Court accepted the case for consideration and on December 7, 1981, heard oral arguments. On March 31, 1982, they ruled 6–3 that MacDonald's rights to a speedy trial were not violated. MacDonald was rearrested and returned to prison. Defense lawyers filed a new motion for MacDonald to be freed on bail pending appeal, but the Fourth Circuit refused. MacDonald's remaining points of appeal were heard on June 9, 1982 and his convictions were unanimously affirmed on August 16, 1982. A further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was refused on January 10, 1983. It was shortly after this that MacDonald's licenses to practice medicine in both North Carolina and California were revoked.
Helena Stoeckley's decomposed body was found on January 14, 1983; it was believed she had been dead several days.
On March 1, 1985, Dupree rejected all defense motions for a new trial. Lawyers for MacDonald appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld Dupree's ruling and refused to reopen the case. On October 6, 1986 the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision.
On March 27, 1991, MacDonald became eligible for parole, but he did not apply, continuing to vehemently maintain his innocence.
On July 8, 1991, Dupree, after hearing arguments that MacDonald should be granted a new murder trial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, denied the petition. On October 3, MacDonald's defense counsel appealed Judge Dupree's ruling on the grounds of judicial bias. On June 2, 1992, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a new trial for MacDonald. They stated that the materials now introduced should have been presented by MacDonald's then-lawyer, Brian O'Neill, in the 1984-85 appeal. Therefore, all rights to further appeals were forfeited. The ruling was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 30 of that same year.
Judge Dupree passed away after a short illness on December 17, 1995. MacDonald's former in-laws, his wife Colette's mother Mildred, and stepfather Alfred Kassab, who brought the MacDonald case to the Justice Department, both died in 1994 within a few months of each other; she on January 19, and he on October 24.
The courts ruled that Dupree had acted correctly when he refused to let the jury see a transcript of the 1970 Article 32 military hearing
Article 32 hearing
An Article 32 hearing is a proceeding under the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice, similar to that of a preliminary hearing in civilian law. Its name is derived from UCMJ section VII Article An Article 32 hearing is a proceeding under the United States Uniform Code of Military...
, and, because this was not an insanity trial, Judge Dupree had also acted properly in not allowing the jurors to hear any of the psychiatric testimony. Had he done so, the jurors would have learned that none of the doctors hired by the defense, or who worked for the Army or government at Walter Reed Hospital, had concluded that MacDonald was psychologically incapable of committing the murders. The courts have also ruled that Stoeckley's confessions of committing the murders were unreliable and at odds with the established facts of the case, and that her treatment at trial was correct. During trial, she was arrested under a material witness warrant and testified before the jury that she could not remember her activities on the evening of the murders due to substantial drug use; witnesses to whom she had confessed were not allowed to testify.
MacDonald was granted leave to file his fourth appeal on January 12, 2006. This latest appeal is based on the 2005 sworn affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
of Jimmy Britt, a decorated retired United States Marshal who worked as such during the trial. Britt states that he heard the material witness in the case, Helena Stoeckley, admit to the prosecutor of the case, James Blackburn, that she was present at the MacDonald residence at the time of the murders and that Blackburn threatened her with prosecution if she testified. Stoeckley, however, met with counsel for the defense prior to this alleged meeting with Blackburn, and she told them that she had no memory of her whereabouts the night of the murders. Defense Attorney Wade Smith advised Dupree that Stoeckley had testified on the stand essentially the same as she had stated in the defense interviews. Also, she contacted Dupree during her retention as a material witness to claim she was terrified, not of the prosecutors, but of Bernie Segal, the lead defense attorney. Britt died on October 19, 2008.
On April 16, 2007, MacDonald's attorneys filed an affidavit of Stoeckley's mother, in which she states that her daughter confessed to her twice that she was at the MacDonald residence on the evening of the murders and that she was afraid of the prosecutors. Her past statements concerning her daughter are at odds with the details contained in her affidavit. MacDonald has requested to expand the appeal to include all the evidence amassed at trial, evidence which he claims was discovered subsequent to the trial (for example, statements of individuals to whom Stoeckely had made confessions to) and the DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
results completed in 2006. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals granted MacDonald's motion for a successive habeas
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
petition and remanded the matter back to the District Court Eastern Division for a decision. In November 2008, Judge Fox denied MacDonald's motion regarding the statement of Britt. This denial was based on the merits of the claim, generally that Stoeckley was unreliable, as she had made many, varying statements regarding the murders. Also, that MacDonald's claim that she was expected to testify in manner favorable to him until threatened by Blackburn is contradicted by the trial records. MacDonald's motions regarding the DNA results and the statement of Helena Stoeckley's mother were also denied. The denial of these two motions was based on jurisdiction issues, specifically that MacDonald had not obtained the required pre-filing authorization from the Circuit Court for these motions to the District Court.
Subsequent to the November 2008 decision, a government motion to modify the decision to reflect that Britt's claims were not factual was denied. Included with the motion was jail documentation establishing that Stoeckley was originally confined to the jail in Pickens, South Carolina
Pickens, South Carolina
Pickens, formerly called Pickens Courthouse, is a city in Pickens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,012 at the 2000 census, at which time it was listed as a town; the change to a city was made in 1998, but not reported to the Census Bureau until 2001. It is the county seat...
, not Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
, as Britt had claimed. Also included were custody commitment and release forms indicating that agents other than Britt transported Stoeckley to the trial. MacDonald appealed the district court's denial of his claim to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which held oral arguments on March 23, 2010, and subsequently reversed the District Court's decision, remanding MacDonald's claims back to the District Court with instructions for consideration.
MacDonald is currently being held in the New Hanover County Jail, where he was transferred on October 19, 2011 to await evidentiary hearings in his upcoming appeal.
Allegations of evidence suppression
MacDonald supporters claim that the prosecution suppressed evidence. In the years since the trial, defense lawyers have used the Freedom of Information Act to find evidence that the government did not present at trial. However, all of MacDonald's claims regarding suppressed evidence have been rejected by the courts, citing evidence that many of the items were indeed available to the defense and, even if they were not, the items do not establish his innocence and would not have changed the verdict of the jury.MacDonald claims that unidentified fingerprints and fibers found in the apartment were never matched to anyone known to have been in the house prior to or after the murders and that these prints are evidence of intruders. However, the prints do not match anyone named by MacDonald as the intruders, and fingerprint exemplars of the children were not obtained and Colette's fingerprint exemplars were of poor quality, as they were taken subsequent to embalming.
Other claims of withheld evidence involve two unidentified 22 inch (56 cm) long synthetic hairs were found in a hairbrush, but not pointed out specifically to the defense, and a minute spot of blood that was either type O or type B (MacDonald's blood type) that was found in the hallway. MacDonald supporters continue to insist that this was not disclosed to the defense, despite the existence of the trial transcripts which clearly show this spot was indeed disclosed and discussed. Supporters of MacDonald also point to unsourced black wool fibers found on Colette MacDonald's mouth and shoulder as evidence of intruders that the government deliberately did not report to the defense.
In 1995, two MacDonald supporters, Jerry Allen Potter and Fred Bost, wrote Fatal Justice, a book meant to both refute McGinniss' Fatal Vision
Fatal Vision
Fatal Vision is a best-selling true crime book published in 1983 by journalist and author Joe McGinniss. The following year it was made into an NBC television miniseries under the same name. Fatal Vision is the real-life story of Captain Jeffrey MacDonald, M.D., who in 1979 was convicted of the...
and present the evidence they claimed had been hidden by government prosecutors.
DNA testing
Lawyers representing MacDonald were given the right to pursue DNA tests on limited hair and blood evidence in 1997 by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Testing began in December 2000. Defense lawyers hoped that the results would tie Stoeckley and her associate Greg Mitchell to the scene.DNA test results released by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory
Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory
The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory is a forensics laboratory specializing in DNA profiling run by the United States Armed Forces and located in Rockville, Maryland....
on March 10, 2006, showed that neither Stoeckley's nor Mitchell's DNA matched any of the tested exhibits. A limb hair found stuck to the left palm of Colette MacDonald matched the DNA profile of Jeffrey MacDonald. MacDonald's DNA profile also matched body hairs found on the multi-colored bedspread from the master bed and on the top sheet of Kristen MacDonald's bed. A hair found in Colette's right palm was sourced as her own. Three hairs, one from the bedsheet, one found in Colette's body outline in the area of her legs, and one found beneath the fingernail of Kristen, did not match the DNA profile of any MacDonald family member or known suspect.
MacDonald was unsuccessful in incorporating a motion regarding the DNA results into his motion regarding the claims of Britt, with the court stating that MacDonald must obtain a pre-authorization for what should be a separate motion regarding the DNA results. His appeal of the circuit court's decision is currently under consideration by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Parole
MacDonald was serving his sentence at a federal prison in CumberlandCumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
; however, he was recently transferred to the New Hanover County jail in Wilmington, North Carolina to await upcoming evidentiary hearings in his appeal. He continues to maintain his innocence. His projected "release date" after serving his three consecutive life terms is April 5, 2071.http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=jeffrey&Middle=&LastName=macdonald&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=0&y=0 At the urging of his second wife (whom he married in 2002) and his attorneys, he was granted a parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
hearing on May 10, 2005. During the hearing, he did not admit guilt and argued that he is "factually innocent." His parole request was immediately denied. His next scheduled parole hearing will be in May 2020.http://cjonline.com/stories/051105/pag_formergreenberet.shtml
External links
- The Jeffrey MacDonald Case This website is maintained by friends and family of Jeffrey MacDonald
- The Jeffrey MacDonald Information Site This website presents trial transcripts, grand jury testimonies, depositions, declarations, CID reports, FBI reports, psychological and psychiatric evaluations and other documents pertaining to the case.
- Crime Library feature
- The Jeffrey MacDonald Interview This website analyzes the first interview Jeffrey MacDonald gave to the authorities.