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The problem with Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald is that it really looks like he dun it. The bigger problem is that few people seem to care about the idea that constitutional protections against arbitrary arrest and imprisonment matter. Even fewer people are willing to pay the price to ensure that those constitutional protections are actually respected by the government. I'm serious: very few Americans, who sing hymns to freedom and democracy at the tops of their longs, actually care about freedom.
They are far more excited by punishment.
And let me walk back a bit from my opening statement: the evidence by which many people, like myself, have concluded that Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald probably murdered his wife and his two children is not reliable. As everyone knows by now-- even the prosecution-- the emergency crews and investigators from the army mucked around MacDonald's apartment at will, moving evidence, touching items, removing items (including, apparently, MacDonald's wallet), and generally destroying the credibility of any conclusions drawn by subsequent forensic examinations. You just can't trust any of the forensic data because no serious effort was made to ensure that evidence had not been tampered with. The chutzpah of the FBI (check) team that allegedly "reconstructed" events in the apartment the night of [when] is beyond belief.
Dr. James Brussel, appointed by the Judge to "examine" Dr. MacDonald, came to the conclusion that MacDonald was a homicidal psychopath. He didn't actually meet with MacDonald. He just read the case files. Dr. Brussel was famous for having diagnosed the Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo. Who turned out, of course, to not be the Boston Strangler.
And that's that.