Many of you probably aren’t old enough to remember this terrible thing. Jeffrey MacDonald, a Special Forces trained, Army physician, was portrayed to be a monster; he murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters.
At least that’s what the news reports told us.
From the very beginning, MacDonald claimed he was innocent. He claimed he and his family had been attacked in the middle of the night by a “Charles Manson” type of cult; that he had been stabbed and beaten unconscious by three men as he tried to defend his family.
He also consistently testified there was a fourth person among the intruders; a young woman with long blond hair and a floppy hat. When found by investigators, the young woman confessed to being in the home when the attack occurred.
The Army dismissed all charges against MacDonald, but a federal prosecutor refused to let go, or follow all the evidence. The prosecutor had his perpetrator, and that was all he wanted. He refused to grant immunity to the young woman so she would freely testify. As a matter of fact, he threatened her with prosecution if she repeated her story.
Which makes me wonder if there will ever come a day when prosecutors are held responsible for their outright negligence or venal behavior.
We can only hope.
In the meantime, Jeffrey MacDonald’s tragic story is heartrending history.
