(Jeffrey ) MacDonald gets fourth appeal (looks like he will get new trial) [View All]

[wakeme2008]

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/388390.html

Published: Jan 14, 2006 12:30 AM
Modified: Jan 14, 2006 06:47 AM

MacDonald gets fourth appeal
Marshal's claim may lead to retrial

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The new appeal is based on the claim of Jimmy Britt, a retired federal marshal from Apex, that MacDonald's lead prosecutor at his 1979 trial lied to the judge and intimidated a key witness into changing her testimony.

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The new appeal centers on Britt's recollection of events at MacDonald's trial 27 years ago, when Britt was a federal marshal working in the courtroom.

Britt, 67, swore under oath last year that during the trial, Helena Stoeckley, a Fayetteville woman police had initially suspected but later ruled out as the killer, told him she had been in the MacDonalds' apartment with friends the night of the murders.

Britt also says Stoeckley told Blackburn the same thing in an interview before she testified. In response, Britt alleges, Blackburn told Stoeckley that he would charge her with murder if she told the same story in court.

..more at link a good read IMHO...