[conspire] (forw) Reiser trial: DNA tests partially flubbed, defence motion for mistrial

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

On Feb 5, 2008, at 7:50 PM, Rick Moen wrote:

> There is certainly no direct evidence of her death, but she certainly
> vanished utterly and suddenly from an active and ongoing life.

I agree that her being dead is the most likely outcome.

There are certainly cases where people have been convicted of murder  
without a body. In fact, I just watched a rerun of Forensic Files  
where that was the case, however there was significant blood evidence  
in the floorboards of the house even a decade later. In every case  
I've heard of (admittedly, only about a dozen) where there was a  
conviction without a body, there was significant evidence that the  
person was dead. In the program I just watched, they could only file  
against the presumed killer after the DNA evidence was obtained from  
the house.

In the Reiser case, there's no evidence of the kind of violence (that  
I've heard of anyway) that would kill someone, only circumstantial  
evidence of death.

I agree with Christian's response to my post, but there's also  
another kind of horrible: letting the killer go free because the case  
was brought too early to ensure a conviction.

-- 
_Deirdre                                             http://deirdre.net