Although, I am assuming that the local police have put far more credence in her "eye witness" account than we have and are using her statements and accounts to continue to keep Jim on the suspect list.
Yes, I wonder just how much credence they do give to her account. Recall this from CNN's Burden of Proof:
COSSACK: New Haven, Connecticut police have yet to charge anyone in the slaying of a Yale University student last December.
Ron, there is an identification that was made by a witnessed who claimed the night of the murder that she saw a blond Caucasian wearing glasses, and then later saw this James Van de Velde on television, and said: You know, that's the guy. Is that a good identification?
RONALD SULLIVAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's a problematic identification because it's potentially suggestive. She didn't pick Mr. Van de Velde out of a lineup. She didn't pick him out independently. Rather, it was after she saw him on TV in the context of being called a suspect in the murder that she said that, well, this looks like the guy that I saw that night.
Also, contrast that with another witness who said that she saw a small red car leaving the scene, not a big red jeep, like Professor Van de Velde had. And, when shown a picture of the professor, said that's absolutely not the person that was driving the car that apparently fled away from the scene of the crime.
So it's a problematic ID at best.
COSSACK: John, as a prosecutor, what do you do with an ID like that?
BENZAN: Well, you have to test it. You have to put the witness to the test. You test her ability to perceive, the angle from which she saw the person, and what she went through that day to make sure that if you are going to use that at trial that it's something that is going to stand and it is going to be good evident. So you put the witness to the test.
There's some really compelling stuff in depositions given to Jim's lawyers about what people actually saw around the crime scene... about how the police tried to put words in people's mouths about what they saw and didn't see, knew and didn't know. I'm hoping they give me permission to post it one day.
The red car seen speeding away has always intrigued me. Could Suzanne have been murdered in that car? Why haven't the police ever mentioned any efforts to rule it out given such a vivid eyewitness account? Last week I asked under the freedom of information act for a list of all cars stolen or recovered in Connecticut around the time of the murder. So far I've gotten nothing sent to me.
- Jeff |
