Trial

We watched the jury return their verdict today in the, so called, "Stripper Trial". Mechele Linehan was found guilty of first-degree murder. The prosecution's theory was that she conspired with one fiance to kill another fiance for the life-insurance money while she was out of town with another ex-fiance. Yes, this woman was involved with a lot of men.

For the full back story, read this article from the Anchorage Daily News:
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/stripper/story/9398965p-9312346c.html

It was very affecting to watch her family's reaction to the announcement. As much as this trial has been an utter media-spectacle (if you read the article above, you know the whole story will end up as, at the least, a TV movie), when you are in the same room as these people it is impossible to escape the fact that these are real people. No matter how this trial could have come out, all of these individuals' lives have been irrevocably changed. And it was impossible to not be moved by her husband's physical reaction to the announcement of the verdict. He was literally shaking.

I am very curious what went on in the jury room when they were deliberating. The prosecution's case was entirely circumstantial. This murder was over ten years ago. So it must have been a convincing barrage of evidence that the state put down in order to convince these people that this woman was guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Yes, she was manipulative and, by most measures, a "bad" person, but that's different from committing murder. Hopefully the jury was correct and she has received justice. The alternative is too depressing to contemplate.