The Verdicts – “The Great Burden”

With these words, Judge Patrick Willis informed the jury of their responsibility. On one side of the court sat the accused. On the other side sat the accuser.

The State, as the accuser, has awesome power. The State controls the collection of evidence. The State has at its beck and calls expert witnesses who are paid for by taxpayer to testify against the accused.

The State has the ear and eye of the media and uses that well. The State can poison attitudes toward the accused and does far too often. The State uses the emotional appeal of victims to mobilize media and public against the accused.

The accused are most often poor and male. If the accused has the resources, he is expected to finance his fight for innocence; a rather lopsided financial battle. The accused often does not have the sympathy of the media.

Here, the accused had spent years in prison due to questionable techniques by Manitowoc County officials. And, the Wisconsin Crime Lab DNA technician who testified in this case had testified in the false conviction case that hair fiber evidence she used to link Avery to the sexual assault victim was conclusive, always a questionable proposition. The same person cooled her heels for more than a year before performing the test that finally proved Avery’s innocence. Some would argue that institutional bias was at work.

But, that is not what the jury gets to weigh. The issues are the evidence, the witnesses, and the charges. The jury is instructed to weigh facts not emotions.

The verdicts were issued late on 18 March, 2007. They were

First Degree Intentional Homicide		Guilty
Mutilating a Corpse				Not Guilty
Felon Possessing a Firearm		        Guilty

I understand the homicide guilty verdict, but I am not comfortable with it. There are too many holes and unknowns.

I suspect the blood in the Halbach SUV was what made the verdict. The planted evidence thing is a hard sell although it does happen (and worse). We don’t like the idea that the people charged with protecting us against criminals engage in criminal behaviors.

And, the defense was limited in its planting theory to two Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department Persons. The need to keep focus during the trial preluded, apparently, an unknown planter or planters.

The open blood vial in the courthouse was interesting. A small hole in the stopper was clearly visible. The open end of the Styrofoam vial container was facing away from the open end of its container. Defendants get convicted on circumstantial evidence. The State gets a pass on circumstantial evidence.

The jury overlooked the glaring inconsistencies in the State case perhaps due to the unknown coconspirator named in the charges. Since the jury has decided to use a pact of silence, we may never know the chain of deliberations.

This case will always be suspicious simply due to the conduct of those involved in investigation and prosecution. Nonetheless, jury verdicts are sacrosanct. Thus, the only chance for Avery is an attack on the justice system up a steep hill. He has succeeded once before.