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Fatal Vision was the first true crime book I ever read (in jr high)......got me HOOKED. And yes I thought him guilty as sin.
This is from his defense site but......
"The book Fatal Vision was shown in a court of law to be a fraudulent and fictional account of the MacDonald Case.
For many years, Joe McGinniss's best-selling novel Fatal Vision was viewed as the definitive book on the MacDonald case. The book, and the ensuing mini-series based on it, were accepted as fact, since McGinniss had direct access to, and cooperation from, his subject. His portrayal of MacDonald as a cold, narcissistic killer has been indelibly imprinted in the public's collective psyche over the years; the residual effects have tainted
every court proceeding since trial.
People who are new to this case may be aware of Fatal Vision and its impact, but few are aware of the fact that in 1984, Dr. MacDonald took the unprecedented step of suing Joe McGinniss for breach of contract and fraud - while incarcerated in federal prison. McGinniss's manipulation of conversations and circumstances, conjecture, and blatant lies were exposed in court, and MacDonald won a settlement of approximately a third of a million dollars in 1987.
It wasn't until the publication of Fatal Justice (by Potter and Bost, 1995, W.W. Norton Publishers) that the full extent of McGinniss's betrayal was documented, and many of the case myths he created were exposed as such."
^^BAAHHH disgruntled convict! He can take a number behind all the others and looks like he's been left standing in line for quite some time! No one in prison is really guilty
^^BAAHHH disgruntled convict! He can take a number behind all the others and looks like he's been left standing in line for quite some time! No one in prison is really guilty
I just answered based on what. Look I'm not going to engage in argument with you sorry!!
Not looking to argue, just curious what your source of facts are. From what I see here most people source fatal vision, which has been discrete. I hope you are never on a jury.
FYI - McDonald wasn't convicted off the book Fatal Vision. That's a ludicrous assumption to make about my abilities as a potential juror simply because you don't like the fact I think he is guilty as charged!!
FYI - McDonald wasn't convicted off the book Fatal Vision. That's a ludicrous assumption to make about my abilities as a potential juror simply because you don't like the fact I think he is guilty as charged!!
The book took the same theory as the army did and ran with it. This was not a standard county trial, the rules were different.
I worry you would not use crritical thinking as a juror.
Fair trial? I think not.
"Judge Franklin T. Dupree Jr. had already made up his mind that MacDonald was guilty well before the trial began. Dupree had a close personal relationship with a man named James Proctor, who was one of the key individuals in the government who was determined to convict MacDonald.
As Potter and Bost point out: "Proctor had been an associate in Dupree's private law firm from 1967 through 1969. He regarded Dupree as a mentor, married one of Dupree's two daughters, and sired Dupree's first grandchild." Considering the opportunity for Proctor to prejudice the judge, Dupree should have excused himself from the case.
Instead, Dupree asked for the case.
James Blackburn
It was a high profile case and everyone wanted to be on the bandwagon. It was the kind of case that could really make one's career. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Blackburn, the lead prosecutor, used the case as a springboard to become the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of North Carolina. A man of very dubious ethics and morals, he later was convicted of forgery, fraud and embezzlement.
Blackburn's chief assistant was a young, ambitious government lawyer named Brian Murtagh who made suppression of evidence into a new art form. Worse, Murtagh had in his possession several critical pieces of physical evidence that would have proven MacDonald's innocence and yet he spared no effort to make certain that the evidence remained undiscovered by the defense.
Bernie Segal had hired an expert forensic scientist, Dr. John Thornton, to examine and assess the physical evidence. Thornton was hired in 1975 right after MacDonald was indicted by the grand jury. For four years, the government did not allow Thornton to even look at the evidence or see the laboratory notes from the original Army investigation or the FBI analysis. Incredibly enough, the government did not allow the defense even to see the evidence until a few weeks before the trial, and even then the judge would not allow the defense any lab testing on the evidence. The Army had taken six months to complete the testing of that same physical evidence years before. Even worse, Murtagh only allowed Thornton to examine the evidence one time in a small jail cell where box after box of papers and folders were stacked all around the room. Given so little time to look at the evidence with no indication of what they were looking at, the defense team was completely shackled. The handwritten lab notes, against which Segal could have checked the honesty of the Army CID technicians, were still held back from the defense.
How could this be? "In almost any state court," Segal explained, "the examination of evidence in a murder trial would be a given right of the defense experts. But not with the feds. It's up to the judge's discretion." And Judge Franklin Dupree was in bed with the prosecution."
Big strong green beret Jeffrey McDonald had a pneumothorax (easily created and just as easily treated) and a few scrapes, abrasions while his pregnant wife and 2 young girls got slaughtered. Amazing.
Also, I think they showed his infidelity and drug use (prescription drugs) patterns.
I really liked the interview he gave on Dick Cavett after they failed to indite him. I watched part of it--he was almost joking about the whole thing. Dick Cavett remarked his affect was "all wrong."
Last edited by Nanny Goat; 07-28-2010 at 09:03 AM..
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FYI - McDonald wasn't convicted off the book Fatal Vision
. That's a ludicrous assumption to make about my abilities as a potential juror simply because you don't like the fact I think he is guilty as charged!!
