Fatal Justice: Reinvestigating the Macdonald Murders (Paperback)

by Jerry Allen Potter (Author), Fred Bost (Author) "At the end of a rainy Monday afternoon, February 16, 1970, Green Beret physician Jeffrey R. MacDonald left his office at Fort Bragg, North Carolina..." (more)
Key Phrases: pajama top fibers, pajama fibers, black wool fibers, Helena Stoeckley, Fort Bragg, Colonel Rock (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Finally, many years after Joe McGinniss's famous Fatal Vision, we have a well-documented argument for the other side of the Jeffrey MacDonald case--an argument that the prosecution mishandled key crime-scene evidence, withheld potentially exculpatory material, and even discounted confessions from other suspects. Whether you change your mind about MacDonald's role in the murder of his family, you will learn much about the case that puts it in a new light. For example, the army narrowed in on MacDonald as their prime suspect very early in the investigation, and discouraged the FBI from developing alternate theories. And the judge in the case, Franklin Dupree Jr. appeared to have been biased in favor of the prosecution. Janet Malcolm, the New Yorker writer who wrote The Journalist and the Murderer (about MacDonald's relationship with McGinniss), called this book "quietly convincing."

From Library Journal
Following up on Joe McGinnis's controversial Fatal Vision (LJ 9/1/83), the authors conclude that Green Beret Captain Jeffrey MacDonald was not given a fair trial for the murder of his wife and daughters.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 479 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393315444
• ISBN-13: 978-0393315448
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #227,574 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars MacDonald is guilty as charged (DNA proves more), January 20, 2007

By	mrw "martin" (Germany) - See all my reviews

Forget any account on the case. You can read Fatal Vision, which may be somewhat more one-sided. However, by now the case seems clear. The DNA-evidence that has been asked for by the defense team showed that the hair in Colettes hands was 1. her own 2. that of Jeffrey MacDonald, the defendant. None of the hair found at the scene belonged to the so-called "hippies". Making this case clearer than ever. For more read about the case go to the Jeffrey MacDonald information page (where 1000s of documents and pictures are available in a scanned form).

70 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Same Old Same Old, December 22, 1999

By A Customer

Fatal Justice does nothing to convince me of Jeffrey MacDonald's innocence. In my opinion, every point raised can easily be refuted. First, I discount EVERYTHING Helena Stoeckley ever said. This pitiful woman had no idea where she was or what she was doing on the night of February 17, 1970. Additionally, many reliable witnesses place her far away from the murder scene on the night in question. Helena was well-known for lying and she lived, in part, to please Prince Edward Beasley. It has always been my thought that Beasley, seeking his "fifteen minutes of fame" tried to convince Helena that she had something to do with the murders.

Ken Mica, who says he saw a woman in a floppy hat on a street corner near the MacDonald home has always been well-known as a MacDonald "groupie."

The book tells us that drug-crazed hippies broke into the MacDonald home and committed the murders, yet there was no sign of forced entry and no sign of mud or grass or footprints even though the night was damp and rainy. All of the murder weapons came from within the MacDonald home. It just doesn't make sense that four people intending to commit premeditated murder would fail to bring weapons, counting instead on finding them inside the home of the victims. The book talks of MacDonald being awakened by four intruders, yet MacDonald himself says that while he was fighting the four intruders near the sofa, he heard his wife screaming, "Jeff, Jeff, why are they doing this to me?" To my way of thinking, a normal mother whose life is in danger, not to mention the lives of her children, would scream as loudly as possible and perhaps even run from the home, seeking help, yet none of the neighbors heard anything. The book asks us to believe Helena Stoeckley, but in ALL versions of her many confessions she names only three intruders and herself.

The book states that MacDonald gave his wife and daughters mouth-to-mouth several times and saw bubbles coming from their chests. The first MPs on the scene couldn't even see the children without shining flashlights on them and MacDonald says he did not turn the lights on or off, which would be an illogical thing to do anyway, so how could he see something like bubbles? MacDonald claims he pulled a knife from his wife's chest. No doctor, let alone a surgeon would do this. No fingerprints were found on any of the weapons. I believe MacDonald wiped the weapons, not to conceal his own prints, which would naturally be on them since they came from his home, but to conceal the lack of prints from intruders. The many unmatched hairs and fibers found in the home could only show that Colette was a less-than-perfect housekeeper.

MacDonald received only very minor injuries while his wife and daughters were the victims of "overkill." The book asks us to believe the ringing of a phone scared the intruders off.

Whether you believe MacDonald to be guilty or innocent, everything this book presents is "old stuff" that has already been litigated and will do MacDonald no good. A book only for those intetrested in the details of the case, as it is cumbersome and lengthy.

25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fatal Justice, February 15, 2005

By	bamaroots - See all my reviews

This book just kept telling the same stuff over and over again which may be what some do to make a point, but in this case it got just a bit boring. The writer could just have made a list and put it on ever page. I have been interested in this case since the day I picked up my hometown newspaper and read the horrible headlines all those years ago. Maybe because I had daughters the same age as the McDonald children and another was on the way. I do believe there were many errors and wrongs done in the investigation and trial of McDonald, but it doesn't make him an innocent man. I don't presume to know his guilt or innocence.If he is guilty then I think he is a monster. Over the years I have read where he was announcing new evidence was forth coming that would prove him innocent, but that has not been the case. It does seem to me that as many times as he appealed his case he would have at least gotten a new trial but that hasn't happened either. It hasn't been just the judge and investigators in the original trial who have looked at all the evidence and questions of wrong doing. I am swayed to believe him guilty for the following reasons: The blood evidence,his injuries being so minor compared to what was inflicted on his family,the blue fibers found in so many places, his obvious lie about his own injuries on the Dick Cavett Show, and his in-laws turning from full support of him to belief in his guilt. I was hoping this book would show convincing argument to counter this evidence. It didn't. It may have proven that he didn't get a fair trial, but it gave no convincing argument to counter those points.