Crime & Safety
Former Patchogue Man Convicted of Triple Murder Gets New Hearing
Jeffrey MacDonald testified Monday in U.S. District Court, attorney focusing on new evidence.
Jeffrey MacDonald, a former Green Beret that Newsday reports grew up in Patchogue, is getting a new hearing and a chance to possibly overturn his 1979 conviction of killing his pregnant wife and two daughters.
According to the Associated Press, MacDonald asked a judge to grant a new trial on Monday at a federal courtroom in Wilmington, North Carolina. MacDonald's attorney is reported as saying if jurors could have considered two new types of evidence in the case, that he would have been found not guilty.
MacDonald is currently serving three life sentences for the 1970 murders of his wife, Colette and daughters Kimberly and Kristen.
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According to the report, MacDonald's attorney is focusing on hairs that do not match MacDonald or his family's DNA and a statement from Jimmy Britt, a deputy U.S. marshal when the case was tried.
The hearing is expected by lawyers to last up to two weeks.
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For more trial details, check the source links below:
Sources: Huffington Post (AP), Newsday (subscription)
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