DNA Tests Back in Fatal Vision Case

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/10/fatal.vision.ap/index.html

LAW CENTER
'Fatal Vision' case gets new DNA twist
Tests show Army doc's hair was found in slain wife's hand

Friday, March 10, 2006; Posted: 6:35 p.m. EST (23:35 GMT)

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) -- The hair of a former Army doctor
convicted in the slayings of his wife and two daughters was found
clutched in his dead wife's hand, according to long-awaited results of
DNA testing made public Friday.

Jeffrey MacDonald asked for the DNA testing in 1997, claiming it would
bolster his argument that a band of crazed hippies killed his family in
1970.

But federal prosecutors said Friday in a statement the testing did not
find any DNA from either of the two women named by MacDonald as
suspects.

Both MacDonald's lead attorney, Tim Junkin, and his current wife,
Kathryn, said they believe at least one piece of evidence uncovered
during the DNA testing will help MacDonald's case. A hair from an
unidentified person was found under the fingernail of MacDonald's
youngest daughter, Kristen.

And while it does not match the women MacDonald identified as suspects,
they said it bolsters MacDonald's argument there were at least two
other unidentified assailants in the MacDonald home during the attack.

"This is the time we've waited for for so many years," said Kathryn
MacDonald, who married the imprisoned MacDonald in 2002. "This is just
one more layer of evidence that shows that there were assailants in the
house."

But prosecutors appeared to give little credence to the unidentified
hairs at the scene.

"Any residence such as the MacDonald apartment would be expected to
contain hairs from the persons other than the four people who lived
there," said the U.S. attorney's statement.

For years after the slayings of Colette MacDonald, 26; daughter
Kimberley, 6; and daughter Kristen, 2, MacDonald was free because the
Army said it did not have enough evidence to prosecute him.

A federal court jury convicted MacDonald of the killings in 1979 after
the U.S. Justice Department reopened the case and he is serving three
consecutive life sentences.

The trial led to a best-selling book, "Fatal Vision," and a television
miniseries of the same name.

In January, a federal appeals court gave new life to MacDonald's case,
ruling that his lawyers can introduce evidence that a prosecutor
threatened a witness. The ruling could result in a new trial, said Hart
Miles, one of MacDonald's attorneys.
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Carmen

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