Boston College Law Review Volume 35 Article 3 Issue 5 Number 5 9-1-1994 Brecht v Abrahamson: Hard Justice for State Prisoners: Robin A. Colombo Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr Part of the Criminal Law Commons Recommended Citation Robin A. Colombo, Brecht v Abrahamson: Hard Justice for State Prisoners:, 35 B.C.L. Rev. 1103 (1994), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol35/iss5/3 This Notes is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. NOTES BRECHT V AB SON: HARD JUSTICE FOR STATE PRISONERS? On April I, 1975, the defendant, a former police officer, kid- napped a 16 year-old girl while she was waiting to pick up her school- teacher mother.' At gunpoint, he handcuffed the girl and took her to his home, with the intention of raping her.' After noticing the young girl looking around the house, as if she were trying to memorize every detail, the defendant took the young girl to a secluded spot and fatally shot her in the head with a .357 pistol." The defendant left the girl's body where it fell and drove to the outskirts of the town, where he abandoned the girl's car on the highway, hazard lights flashing, and hitchhiked to town.4 During the defendant's trial for capital murder, the State intro- duced expert testimony indicating that the victim had bruises on her wrists from handcuffs and that a .357 bullet killed her.' Other testi- mony showed that the defendant possessed handcuffs with traces of blood of the same type as the victim's.° The State also introduced testimony of witnesses that linked the defendant to the area near the abandoned car.