re: A Killer Story (New HBO True Crime Documentary)

Honestly, it's pretty damn close to an ethics violation for the prosecutor to have put that witness on the stand.

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From what I understand, the documentary is painting her in a favorable light. They kind of glossed over the fact that she repeatedly called the victims, harassed them and threatened to kill them and that she openly talked about killing them one day in front of other witnesses, including her friends and children.

As far as the phone being turned off for 24 hours, that had only happened twice in the previous year - once during the weekend of the murder and a few months before when she allegedly broke into the home of the ex. They were able to place her in the state that weekend and she told her friend that she drove all the way there and broke in.

The gas cannisters could have helped her establish her alibi (I was camping in the wilderness and didn't want to run out of gas). But instead she lied about them - said she didn't buy them, then said she bought them for a friend, then said she bought them for someone in AA whose name she doesn't know even though every AA meeting starts with people standing up and saying "Hi, I'm Jane Doe and I'm an alcoholic".

Her alibi is also problematic. For starters, "I was camping by myself in remote areas" is always going to be a suspicious excuse. But OK, she's a flaky single person living in Colorado so maybe. But then she gave conflicting statements about where she went and the routes she took. Not surprisingly, nothing about any of her alibi statements could be verified.

The gun is more interesting. No records of her owning or attempting to purchase firearms. But the documentary is again disingenuous. They strongly implied - via crazy married couple - that the victims were killed with an Uzi (not a gun that is easy to obtain or operate for a novice). But there's no evidence it was an Uzi. They ammo was manufactured by the Israeli company that also manufactures the Uzi weapon, which fires 9mm. But that 9mm ammo can also be used in any 9mm handgun or weapon and 9mms are the most common gun.

The bottom line is this is a batshit crazy woman who almost certainly did it. The lack of a "smoking gun" or hard forensic evidence placing her at the crime scene makes prosecution more challenging, but not impossible. Plenty of convictions are secured on nothing but circumstantial evidence. But if someone wants to qualify that as reasonable doubt under the standards, I wont put up a fight. Especially considering the original investigator and prosecutor did some ethically shady stuff.

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Favorable light or not, there is ZERO evidence linking her to this crime other than a flimsy motive predicated on the kids holding a grudge. This didn't happen in the 70's. 2002. For them not to have anything linking her, no way she should be guilty of Murder 1. Alibi's are moot. They can't even disprove them. If they could do that, then you have a point.

No murder weapon. No forensic evidence. No CREDIBLE eyewitnesses. Even if she is the insane criminal mastermind to not leave a single trace while gunning down 2 people in cold blood, you don't have enough to convict. There is so much Reasonable Doubt here, it's silly.

I don't think she's crazy. She's sure as hell dumb enough to try and represent herself, unless she just gave up knowing the local yokels will never stop going after you to save face and protect their crooked backwoods antics. She'd have gotten off for sure if she just ran with the same guy, or went with someone more high profile from the Innocence Project.