United States District Cour for the Eastern District of North Carolina Western Division
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COUR FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA WESTERN DIVISION No. 3:75-CR-26-F No. 5:06-CV-24-F UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ) ) GOVERNMENT’S v. ) POST-HEARING MEMORANDUM ) JEFFREY R. MacDONALD, ) Movant ) The United States of America, by and through the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, hereby submits this Post-Hearing Memorandum in accordance with this Court’s Order of September 27, 2012 [DE-305], and respectfully shows unto the Court the following: Table of Contents I. Summary of Argument ......................................................................................... 1 II. Facts adduced at the evidentiary hearing .............................................................. 2 A. Helena Stoeckley at the 1979 trial .................................................................. 2 B. Stoeckley’s 1982 statements to her mother .................................................. 19 C. Jimmy Britt ................................................................................................... 20 1. Personal life .................................................................................... 20 2. The Britt affidavits .......................................................................... 22 D. FBI interview of Jerry Leonard ..................................................................... 27 E. Affidavit of the elder Helena Stoeckley ........................................................ 27 F. Other events prior to evidentiary hearing ..................................................... 30 G. The evidentiary hearing ................................................................................ 32 1. The Movant’s case .......................................................................... 32 a. Wade Smith ........................................................................... 32 b. Mary Britt .............................................................................. 34 c. Gene Stoeckley ..................................................................... 35 d. Wendy Rouder ...................................................................... 37 e. Laura Redd 38 f. Sara McMann ........................................................................ 38 2. Bench conference regarding Jerry Leonard .................................... 39 3. The Government’s case ................................................................... 39 i Case 3:75-cr-00026-F Document 344 Filed 07/01/13 Page 1 of 200 a. Frank Mills ............................................................................ 39 b. Sworn statement of Vernoy Kennedy ................................... 41 c. Dennis Meehan ..................................................................... 41 d. Janice Meehan ....................................................................... 42 e. Eddie Sigmon ........................................................................ 43 f. William Berryhill .................................................................. 43 g. Maddie Reddick .................................................................... 43 h. Judge J. Rich Leonard ........................................................... 44 i. Jim Blackburn ....................................................................... 44 j. Ruling on attorney-client privilege ....................................... 45 k. Jack Crawley ......................................................................... 46 l. Bill Ivory ............................................................................... 46 m. Raymond “Butch” Madden ................................................... 50 n. Joe McGinnis ........................................................................ 53 4. Jerry Leonard testimony ................................................................. 56 5. Exhibit of MacDonald’s statements ................................................ 63 6. The unsourced hairs claim .............................................................. 64 III. The evidence as a whole ..................................................................................... 64 A. The crime scene ............................................................................................ 64 B. The hospital and the morgue ......................................................................... 77 C. MacDonald’s pretrial statements .................................................................. 85 D. Laboratory examinations .............................................................................. 91 E. The trial ......................................................................................................... 98 1. The Government’s case ................................................................... 98 a. The icepick ............................................................................ 99 b. Officer Mica .......................................................................... 99 c. The debris in Colette’s hand ............................................... 101 d. The debris on the hall steps ................................................. 102 e. MacDonald’s eyeglasses – the Type O blood ..................... 104 f. MacDonald’s eyeglasses – the pink fiber ........................... 106 g. Unidentified fingerprints ..................................................... 107 h. MacDonald’s footprint ........................................................ 110 i. The unsourced wax ............................................................. 113 j. The latex gloves .................................................................. 114 k. Source of pajama threads and yarns.................................... 117 l. The pajama top reconstruction ............................................ 119 m. The Government rests ......................................................... 121 2. The defense case ........................................................................... 121 a. James Milne ........................................................................ 124 b. Helena Stoeckley and the Stoeckley witnesses ................... 127 c. The Rock Report ................................................................. 127 d. Jeffrey MacDonald on direct .............................................. 127 e. Jeffrey MacDonald on cross ............................................... 129 F. The 1984 New Trial motion ........................................................................ 133 1. The “confessions” of Helena Stoeckley ........................................ 133 2. Stoeckley never alleged threat by prosecution .............................. 137 ii Case 3:75-cr-00026-F Document 344 Filed 07/01/13 Page 2 of 200 3. Declarations of witnesses offered to corroborate the Stoeckley “confessions” ................................................................................ 139 4. The “confessions” of Greg Mitchell ............................................. 140 G. The 1984 Motion to Set Aside Judgment of Conviction ............................ 147 H. The “black wool” fibers on the club ........................................................... 150 I. The blond synthetic (saran) fibers ............................................................... 156 J. MacDonald’s pajama bottoms .................................................................... 161 IV. The unsourced hairs claim ................................................................................ 163 A. Procedural history ....................................................................................... 163 B. The DNA stipulation ................................................................................... 169 C. The Pre-Hearing Order ............................................................................... 170 D. The evidentiary hearing on the unsourced hairs claim ............................... 171 1. 91A ................................................................................................ 171 2. 58A(1) ........................................................................................... 175 3. 75A ................................................................................................ 176 4. “Sourced hairs” ............................................................................. 176 5. MacDonald rebuttal argument on unsourced hairs claim ............. 178 E. Movant Post-Hearing Memorandum .......................................................... 178 V. Legal argument ................................................................................................. 180 A. Overview ..................................................................................................... 180 B. The Britt claim ............................................................................................ 183 1. Gatekeeping .................................................................................. 183 2. Merits ............................................................................................. 189 C. The unsourced hairs claim .......................................................................... 191 1. Gatekeeping .................................................................................. 191 2. Merits ............................................................................................ 193 VI. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 195 iii Case 3:75-cr-00026-F