The Jeffrey MacDonald Case, by xiulan

[xiulan]

Feb 10, 2015 17:26:25 GMT albion said:

This is from the McDonald home page. There are also Wiki pages concerning this case. Play and Xuilan, if you happen to read this, I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts about this case.

www.themacdonaldcase.org/index.html

I will start by briefly noting the unconscionable carelessness exhibited in what were the critical first moments of this investigation and a few points where the Article 32 hearing testimony brought to light further incompetence displayed by those the government attorney (prosecution) relied on to create the image of a family annihilator staging a murder scene. Then I will address the portions of the case dealing with the various psych evaluations, since that's where my experience applies. I will defer to Play to address specific legal questions/arguments at a later time.

Lieutenant Joseph Paulk, who was supposed to be in charge of the scene, stated under oath that he had no idea how many MPs had been inside the MacDonald housing unit and that at no time did he make any effort whatsoever to ascertain that or even to record the names of the MPs at and around the scene. It is known that there were more than a dozen officers inside the residence from the beginning. When he left the residence to call an ambulance and inform the Provost Marshal that there had been a family murdered on base, Lt. Paulk neglected to leave someone in charge in his place. So, immediately there is no operative chain of command inside the scene of crime.

Of course, I grant that crime scenes which include a surviving victim involve a much greater potential for "mishandling" and/or "contamination" because the first priority is giving care to possible survivors. However, this does not usually include such missteps as those above. Nor does it excuse wiping items in the home clean of prints, failure to collect hair and print samples from the victims for comparison, putting knocked-over items back on tables or shelves... Some of this is certainly inexperience and a lack of common sense at work. Some is outright incompetence. Regardless, everything that went wrong in this case went wrong right away. All evidence collected was likely contaminated and the scene itself was useless.

Then there's the suppression of the report of one MP who described a person of interest he saw en route to the MacDonald residence that night which was identical to the description given by Dr. MacDonald the same night as one of his family's assailants. The fact that she happened to be a retired Colonel's daughter and also an active narcotics informant for local LE as well as PMO had nothing to do with there being no mention of her existence when the PM was handing case information to the FBI the morning after the murders, I'm sure. By 1971, this suspect was already making statements affirmative to having been in the residence during the murders. Several other active officers' children had been linked to drug trafficking and to this suspect. Yeah, no covering up going on there...

The presiding officer of the Article 32 was correct in his finding of "not true" regarding the charges against Dr. MacDonald. All of the evidence presented and all the facts of the case supported Dr. MacDonald's account of that night's events. The active pressure applied to civilian law enforcement and civilian courts by members of the DOJ and brass at Fort Bragg in order to secure a civilian criminal trial nine years later is horrifying. I won't speak to the trial outside the parameters of the bizarre circumstances surrounding the psych evals, but I do believe that the sixth one had a definite and prejudicial negative impact on the incorrect verdict reached in the case. My comments will be much more brief on that because it is far less complex an issue, but I will post that separately a little bit later tonight.

[xiulan]

Okay, so wasn't quite able to get to this last night as I hoped, but here's my take on the psychological portion of the MacDonald case:

One of the things that strikes me immediately about the way this case was presented once it went to trial in civilian criminal court nine years after the murders is that the whole of the State's case seems to hinge upon a) proving this individual had the character and constitution to commit such a crime; b) that he was the type of person who, if he felt guilty, would have been likely to try to cover up his involvement; and c) if he appeared to the jury to be factually innocent of the crime, it was because he designed it to look that way. I also noted immediately that Judge DuPree (father-in-law to Capt. Clifford Somers who prosecuted the Article 32 hearing in 1970), in addition to suppressing evidence that would have supported the defense's account, ordered a sixth psychological evaluation to be conducted by an expert of his own choosing, despite the fact that three of the existing evaluations were performed by psychiatrists working for the prosecution and all of the previous evaluations were conducted initially within seven months of the murders.

The defendant was required to submit to this examination in order to be allowed to present any psychological evidence at trial, and then after the new one was completed it was the only one submitted to the jury. Another thing that stood out to me was the manner in which this last evaluation was conducted and presented. Dr. Hirsch Lazaar Silverman spent over two hours with Dr. MacDonald completing standardized psychological testing, all of which was pretty standard for that time period. He was there ostensibly to give the tests and report on the responses. Superstar "profiler" Dr. James Brussel was supposed to be doing the interviewing and compose the official findings of the examination for the Court. Dr. Brussel spent less than half an hour total with Dr. MacDonald and didn't write notes, but kept Dr. Silverman in the interview and occasionally directed him to write down statements made by the defendant. The report, in fact, was written by Dr. Silverman who asked exactly none of the interview questions and was not sent to the defense prior to the trial even though the judge and prosecution each received a copy. If the highly irregular circumstances surrounding the conduct of the examination weren't enough on their own, it also turns out that Dr. Brussel the great "psychic" profiler had been on record for 8 years by then claiming MacDonald guilty. The entire time, he'd been working with Army CID as they pushed for a civilian prosecution, declaiming MacDonald a homicidal psychopath for 8 full years before they were ever in a room together. I have no way to confirm, but I believe that Dr. Brussel profiled the crime scene as was his expertise and then assigned his profile of the killer(s) to the person he believed to be guilty. On a side note, this was also done in his work on the Boston Strangler case. And so we begin.

In a situation such as this one where a first-hand personal interview is not an option, I work from as much information as I can gather. In the case of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, I have collected as much detail on his daily life, his relationship with his wife, Colette, his relationship with his daughters, his ideals as far as what he had planned for his life and his marital future, etc. I have watched every interview conducted with Dr. MacDonald. I also examined the account of the day leading up to the murders for an idea of the context in which they took place. Then I read the official notes of the seven psychological professionals who evaluated him officially along with the transcripts of the testimony of each for comparison.

By 17 February 1970, it appeared Cpt. MacDonald would be serving the remainder of his military contract in North Carolina and not being shipped out to Viet Nam as they once thought probable. The young family had finally landed in a mode of life where they could relax a bit. The finances were stable, Jeff was home for lunch every afternoon and by 5 every evening, they had two beautiful young girls and a boy on the way. Life was good and all their dreams appeared to be within reach again. That Monday night (the 16th), Colette had an English Lit class which she left at 6:15 to attend. Jeff went out with the kids to feed and tend their pony. Then he ate, did the dishes and put their youngest to bed while he and the oldest settled in front of the television. He fell asleep on the floor and his daughter woke him up for Laugh-In at 8pm, as it was their habit to watch it together. His daughter went off to bed at 9 and Colette arrived home at about 9:30. She poured a liqueur for herself and changed into her bed clothes. They spent the next while together: reading the paper, watching a little TV, talking. She went to bed first and their youngest girl climbed in on daddy's side. When Jeff came to bed, he moved his daughter back to her room but noticed his side of the bed was wet from an accident, so left it uncovered to dry and went to sleep on the couch. It was just a day in the life of a young family...

Dr. Ryder at Womack Army Hospital was the first psychiatrist to evaluate Dr. MacDonald and he did so two days after the murders (19 February) while Jeff was recovering from his extensive injuries and surgery. The note Major Ryder made in conclusion was "Normal grief process continues." Captain Jeffrey MacDonald would not even be considered a suspect until mid-late April.

21 April 1970: First official psychiatric assessment. Conducted by Dr. Robert Sadoff, per defense counsel Bernard Segal. His final conclusion was that there existed no evidence of psychosis, delusion, or hallucination. Dr. Sadoff remarks that MacDonald was articulate, expressed himself well, was highly self-analytical, and had compartmentalized his grief and depression normally. The psychiatrist notes that Jeff broke down completely several times during the interview, always when prompted to speak more about his family, which was also normal. The doctor probed a great number of areas with MacDonald including some that lay-people would find his responses to disturbing. One was that he admitted to feeling a sense of relief once life began to settle again and it crossed his mind that all the burdens and responsibilities of his former role as father and husband were no longer. Accompanied by a deep sense of shame for having had those thoughts at all. Believe it or not, this is actually a normal part of the grieving process when a person loses someone valuable to them who was also dependent upon them. A peculiar characteristic of grief is that when the mind attempts to process it in a way that does the least psychological damage and produces the least amount of emotional distress. This sometimes produces thought processes that the detached public would not understand and in some instances claim are evidence of criminal guilt.

The media particularly loves stuff like this: "No tears from so-and-so today"...nevermind the assertion is that if you don't collapse to the floor and bawl like a baby for the five minutes the press are watching, you're a monstrous, inhuman psychopath. Of course, anyone who has seen more than one "news" report of murder also knows that if the camera doesn't like the way you cry in front of it, you're also a monstrous, inhuman psychopath. If you cry too much, you're putting on a show...It's an endless loop of spinning any given suspect/defendant's every detail in the most salacious light, even if they use the same "evidence" to attach both guilt and innocence as it suits their needs. I only mention because the television does shape and/or reinforce ideas that do influence public perception...that public is the jury pool in every case in every court.

Also included in Dr. Sadoff's report are notes that Jeff was harboring a great deal of bitterness toward the Army; which was also completely understandable from the perspective of a grieving husband who failed to save his family and felt he'd done everything in his power to contribute to catching the assailants...and had been horribly let down and now betrayed by the authorities and military brotherhood he'd been relying on to get the job done and get justice for his family. Jeff's guilt over survival was immense. He took on a huge amount of personal responsibility for what he perceived to be a total failure of himself as a man in that he survived the attack and utterly failed to defend and save his family. His masculinity was of great importance to him and he was raised to believe certain ideals about how a real man ought to behave and what his duties were in regard to those for whom he was responsible: wife, kids, mom, sister, younger brother, etc. Not at all unusual for men of his generation. So, he'd failed as a husband, as a father, as a son, and as a man when his family was attacked and killed. He also admitted to having initially felt a lift in his overall mood when he was asked for interviews and so forth, though the feeling was temporary and fleeting...always giving way to the grief and depression that were never far out of reach. Part of "being a man", though, was keeping these weak moments of emotional breakdown private and shut away from the outside world. Also common in men of his generation and background...and truly not that unusual across general human experience, even though such behavior is now scrutinized as though it were alien. Dr. Sadoff determines in his report that there is no psychopathology present and that MacDonald did not commit these murders. He recommended psychiatric testing to substantiate his findings and indicated MacDonald would need grief-oriented therapy at least through the first anniversary of the murders.

Dr. Bruce Bailey, Dr. Morgan, and Dr. Edwards were all retained through Walter Reed Hospital by the attorney for the government (prosecutor) and interviewed Dr. MacDonald on the 18th, 19th, and 20th of August in 1970 (the Article 32 hearing had begun on July 5). These three psychiatrists arrived at the same conclusions as Dr. Sadoff. In spite of the government attorney, JAG Officer Somers, treating his own psychiatric witnesses as though they were under cross-examination, they did not waiver in their certainty that MacDonald was a grieving husband and father with severe survivor's guilt and no psychopathy. Additional evaluations were also compiled at this time by Dr. Donald Morgan of Walter Reed from August through September 1970 and Dr. James L. Mack for the defense. Both were called to testify during Grand Jury testimony in December of 1974 and their findings were in accord with each other as well as the previously introduced evaluations. Dr. Seymour Halleck conducted several hours of interviews with Dr. MacDonald on 11, 12, and 16 July 1979; and these further substantiated all of the previous reports. I will get into the last psych eval, the only one presented to the jury in criminal court, in the next post.

[xiulan]

Enter Dr. James Brussel and Dr. Hirsch Lazaar Silverman: Dr. Brussel was hand-picked by the trial judge and the defense was hamstrung into consenting to the evaluation as a means to get the judge to admit evidence affirmative to the defense. This never happened. None of the defense evidence was admitted and the only psychological evaluation the jury ever saw was this one, conducted on August 13, 1979. "Dr. MacDonald musters a strangely foundational repression, even an unconscious denial, of the murders of his wife and children; seemingly, in fact, the impact of the tragedy is blunted, if not blotted out..." After 9 years? No kidding. I know that it is glamorous to expect people to be in a constant state of active grief for the rest of their lives, but that is simply not reality and any psychiatrist worth the paper his degree is written on would know that. The report claims a "delusion of persecution," which is concluded solely based on his strong feelings now that Army CID is out to get him. Considering that they reopened the investigation into him, not the case in general, in early 1971 and didn't stop until they got a civilian court to convene a Grand Jury in 1975, and then fully participated in the construction of the case for the prosecution's trial through 1979...yeah, I guess he was feeling persecuted and was likely pretty angry.

"To be sure, as a person with attributes already indicated, he is subject to respond with anger when his person is questioned, on whatever basis." This is an interesting statement. It comes immediately after comments that Dr. MacDonald "appears incapable of emotionally close, or mutually cooperative, relationships with women," followed by a bunch of Freudian jargon about his mother and his female children (son on the way); and is phrased to indicate the psychiatrist believes anger would be this man's automatic response to any questioning on any subject by any human being on earth. Not that he personally observed any behavior of the sort. Nor did he give an example of this behavior being exhibited in any recorded or observed incident. The several interviews of MacDonald available and all of the prior examinations in no way indicate resistance to questioning, much less knee-jerk anger...not even a flash, not even when grilled pretty severely about the murders or when asked to explain himself and his character. Then the report turns to Rorschach testing results and concludes: sociopathy, homosexual panic, 'possible' psychopathy, immaturity, schizoid, behavioral disorganization, an obsessive-compulsive neurotic, possibly a paranoid schizophrenic, he is called sexually repressed at the same time he's hedonistic...you almost can't go three sentences in the entire report without the word "homosexuality" popping up just before or after the diagnosis of some other severe mental disorder.

Homosexuality was still a diagnosable mental disorder in the DSM. Throughout this psychiatric evaluation, references are made to suppressed sexuality, confused sexuality, hiding sexual differences, problems in heterosexual adjustment, "withdrawal from contact with others and a concurrent attempt at social isolation, again reminiscent of a homosexual orientation and a withdrawal from honest heterosexual contacts." Because he drew a male figure with undefined breasts, he should display strong aggressiveness "however unclear" and "a fear in him of what he is subject to do with his hands." He was said to be "unhappily confused about his own masculinity, as well as basic concerns relative to appropriate behavior." On and on and on about his homosexuality, obvious effeminate characteristics, etc...The doctor uses this flip diagnosis of an inability to be heterosexual as the basis for every single negative characteristic he attributes to Dr. MacDonald and as the in-road for all of the serious pathologies he labels MacDonald with at various times in the report. This report is littered with contradictory or incompatible diagnoses and there is no actual basis given for their assignment to the subject being interviewed other than being gay necessitates a string of comorbid severe disorders. There are several personality inventories and psychological tests listed at the top of the report as having been given, but only two seem to have been utilized...and the entire string of assigned disorders attributed to the results of these two: a drawing test and an inkblot test. Common sense ought to be enough to realize these are not sufficient on their own to conclusively diagnose anything, much less declare someone a sociopath, a psychopath, both suffering from an undefined schizoid disorder and full blown paranoid schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, pathological neurosis...

The Human Figure Drawing Test ought never to be given to an adult, for one thing. It was developed to test cognitive development in children and for some time was erroneously given to children believed to be presenting with symptoms of schizophrenia. The test instructions are to draw a man, a woman, and yourself. There is one sheet of paper given for each drawing and each must be a whole person, head to feet. Other than that, the child has no constraints or guidance. Not all schizophrenics have difficulty drawing people, but "indicators" such as lack of obvious features (eyes, hands), grossly disordered feature placement (genitalia on the forehead, a nose on top of a knee), or failure to distinguish gender in some way (identical figures for both where the "girl" doesn't have a dress or longer hair than the "boy", etc). It was designed to only be given to children and only in order to test development or identify deficiencies in that development thought to be indicative of schizophrenia.

Rorschach (inkblot) testing was heavily relied on in this report as well. This testing method was already being largely discredited by the end of the 1950s and a president of the APA was quoted in a journal review, "The test has repeatedly failed as a prediction of practical criteria. There is nothing in the literature to encourage reliance on Rorschach interpretations." A conversation about the wallpaper or carpet would produce equally reliable results as far as an indication of personality. In the 1960s and onward, this test was used as a primary diagnostic tool for homosexuality as a mental disorder. During its stint as the most popular test for the psychopathology of being gay, there were five things you could see in an inkblot that would flag you for the "disorder"...pretty much if you saw any article of female clothing, a resemblance to human body parts that either were or might be interpreted as sexual in nature (if the shrink thought there was something sexy about belly buttons and you indicated seeing a navel, that was a red flag)...complete pseudoscientific rubbish, akin to phrenology diagnostically.

At any rate, there is sufficiently substantiated psychological evaluation immediately following the murders by professionals ranging from clinicians to psychiatrists specializing in forensics or criminology to conclude that there was no psychological defect or disorder present in Dr. MacDonald. I would agree with the forensic and criminal psychiatrists that it is highly improbable that Jeff is responsible for the murders perpetrated against his family. It is also my opinion that, in the absence of real evidence due to a thoroughly botched investigation, the prosecution's presented theory of a murderous psychopathic husband staging the scene and annihilating his family for no reason whatsoever can only really be supported by this one bizarre psychiatric evaluation, the only one presented. I believe the way the case was framed, the jury would necessarily have had to rely on this report to frame their view of the murders and Dr. MacDonald's "motivation" for committing them.

[happycamper]

And then there were the candles... this case was such a miscarriage of justice.

[albion]

Xiulan, that was a remarkable critique of the case. I think you are exactly right. For MacDonald to have been convicted, the jury had to believe that he was capable of inflicting his wounds upon himself. The other psychological evaluations would have thrown considerable doubt upon that belief if the jury would have seen them. Isnt that what the jury had to decide? He either murdered his family and then punctured his own lung with a scalpel, or he is innocent and has suffered beyond measure. It would be amazing that the court was able to choose which evaluation was allowed, except there seems to have been instances similar for the entire investigation and court proceedings. It seems to me now, that the case wasn't really about the evidence, because if you question the evidence which helped convict him, then you should have to question the evidence which casts doubt upon his guilt. But the exculpatory evidence was easily explained away by the prosecution. MacDonald was a psychopath and he fabricated all the evidence which might show him innocent.

And it took nine years to get to the trial. If he had died as a result of his injuries, we would be thinking of him as a tragic hero, instead of a monster. And that is with the same evidence which was available at the crime scene. Do you see what I am saying? Regardless of his guilt or innocence, if had died by his wounds, and without the psych evaluation, he would still be considered a victim. Instead he suffered nine years of accusations and then the remaining time in prison.

One of the things that I question is the MP who reported to his superior of a person which resembled MacDonald's description of one of his attackers. The fact that it occurred so early in the investigation seems important. I would really be interested in finding out the names of the people involved. Ft Bragg and Pope AFB are right there next to each other. I am greatly interested in the drugs that were being deilivered by the C-130's to Pope AFB at the time of MacDonald's crimes.

Thank You Xiu for your posts on this subject. I found them very helpful.

[researcher100]

this is such an interesting case..and that book that joe mcginniss wrote "fatal vision" really screwed him over, it was made into a mini series... jeffrey successfully sued joe mcginnis, joe had to pay him a settlement......I read a book about 10 years ago and it really showed what a miscarriage of justice this was.

Xiulon, I really like you examination of the psychological aspects of this case....

[albion]

Feb 13, 2015 2:47:06 GMT xiulan said:

Feb 10, 2015 17:26:25 GMT albion said:

This is from the McDonald home page. There are also Wiki pages concerning this case. Play and Xuilan, if you happen to read this, I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts about this case.

www.themacdonaldcase.org/index.html

Lieutenant Joseph Paulk, who was supposed to be in charge of the scene, stated under oath that he had no idea how many MPs had been inside the MacDonald housing unit and that at no time did he make any effort whatsoever to ascertain that or even to record the names of the MPs at and around the scene. It is known that there were more than a dozen officers inside the residence from the beginning. When he left the residence to call an ambulance and inform the Provost Marshal that there had been a family murdered on base, Lt. Paulk neglected to leave someone in charge in his place. So, immediately there is no operative chain of command inside the scene of crime.

Hi Xiulan
I am about the MP's. Can you add anything about their involvement in the initial parts of the case? I was doing some reading lately about some Airborne MP Battalions.

Attachments:

[xiulan]

Hi Albion. 

I will be happy to provide you with the information I have regarding the PMO and MPs involved with the scene on the morning of 17 February 1970. I will post these individually to keep things tidy. I'll start you off with Ken Mica and should have more for you by tomorrow. All the information is taken from official records, transcripts, and the personal notes of the MPs involved. 

A domestic disturbance call was issued from PMO dispatch at 3:42 a.m. This may have been a simple miscommunication as the desk sergeant was heard by the telephone operator, Carolyn Landen, to yell for a call to Womack Hospital ("get Womack ASAP") and request an ambulance after it was relayed people at the residence had been stabbed. Unfortunately, a DV call on a military base has never really been a rush priority and certainly wasn't that morning. 

Specialist 4th Class Kenneth C. Mica, MP: Assigned to 503d Military Police Battalion, Company A, Fort Bragg.  

He reported light vehicle and pedestrian traffic on his shift that night and also that he and his partner, SP4 Dennis Morris (driving that night), had only responded to one call in the four hours previous to Captain MacDonald's 'domestic disturbance'. They had been through the Corregidor Courts housing area on four or five occasions (in the Article 32 hearing he states this was 6 or 7 times and Morris says 2 or 3) and he not recall having seen anything of particular interest. He also states that when they heard the call at 3:42, they believed they had been called to respond to an address on North Dougherty Drive and proceeded to that address first. En route, he recalls having seen a female on the corner of Honeycutt Road, where Mica says he and Morris had been parked watching traffic, and South Lucas. He thinks they arrived at the correct address on Castle Drive no more than five minutes after the initial call (his CID statement says they arrived at 0350). Dennis Morris never mentions a snafu with the addresses and claims they drove straight to Cpt. MacDonald's home after receiving the call. Mica himself omits this confusion over address in the Article 32, stating the call they received was to proceed to Castle Drive as backup for their patrol supervisor already en route. The latter is also what was in his statement to CID on the morning of the murders. At trial, Mica states there were already several MP patrols ahead of them at the address and everyone (at least 4 and maybe 6 or more people, certain of 6 in his official statement) seemed to have gathered in a crowd at the front door of the residence. At the Article 32 hearing he states there were three cars there when he and his partner arrived on scene which would indicate the presence of 6 individuals other than himself and his partner. These were: First Lieutenant Joseph Paulk, ? Dickerson who was Paulk's driver, Sergeant Richard Tevere and his partner Specialist Mario D'Amore. Mica also remembers Sgt. Tevere running to the front of the house yelling, "Get Womack ASAP!" (CID statement and Article 32) At trial, Mica recalls simply running into Tevere and the two of them entering the house for the first time together.  Tevere, however, testified that he said, "Let's get some other MPs back here. I believe somebody has been stabbed."              

Whatever Sgt. Tevere actually said, Mica and Morris ran around back at that point and entered the house behind Tevere. He observed a woman on her back, clothing torn, covered in blood. Multiple cuts to her scalp and neck, right eye partially open. She was wearing a pink nightgown which had been torn, exposing her left breast. A man was lying at a 60 degree angle to the woman with his head on her chest. He noted the bed was unmade and there appeared to be a large wet spot in the center of the mattress. He also saw a small knife laying next to the dresser and states the telephone was dead. I'm not really certain what he means by that. We know the phone was off the hook when the MPs arrived and that the receiver was sitting in the cradle when the scene was finally photographed. Whether this indicates it was Mica himself who checked the phone, found it dead, and replaced the receiver at this time is unclear though it seems plausible given his CID statement. At the Article 32 hearing, however, he indicates directly that Sgt. Tevere was the one who physically handled the phone, put it to his head, spoke into it, and then placed it back on the base. 

At Jeffrey MacDonald's criminal trial (1979), Mica indicates he thought the male Caucasian in the room was deceased until a minute or so later when he began moaning and trying weakly to move. Now Cpt. MacDonald begins mumbling and trying to turn himself over onto his back, according to the CID statement. At the Article 32 hearing, Mica states he himself attempted to turn Cpt. MacDonald's head because he was facing away from Mica when they entered the room. He was heard by Mica to have said, "Check my kids. They're in the other room. I can't breathe." or "Check my kids. How are my kids? I heard my kids crying." Mica starts CPR (which he later states he performed at least three times and possibly more) and then MacDonald says, "There were four of them. Two male Caucasians, one male Negro, and one female. I was sleeping on the couch in the living room. I heard them, I started fighting with them. Then one hit me with something." Mica asks who hit him and MacDonald replied that he didn't know. Mica inquires further of the appearance of the attackers and MacDonald states, "One blonde Caucasian female. She had a brown floppy hat on. Two male Caucasians, and one male Negro. I think I cut his face while fighting." Mica reports Cpt. MacDonald was regularly losing consciousness during this entire exchange. The ambulance arrived to remove him to Womack Army Hospital roughly 15 minutes after MPs had entered the home. 

In his Article 32 testimony, Mica states that as soon as MacDonald asked about the kids he ran immediately down the hallway and glanced into both of the children's bedrooms. He thinks Sergeant Tevere started down the hallway first (trial testimony).  He says he glanced briefly into the living room, dining room, then turned around and came back to MacDonald. None of this activity appears in his initial sworn statement to CID. During this testimony, he also recalls a light having been on in either the dining or kitchen area and that he saw no mud anywhere in the house but would have if it had been there. In the room on his left from the hallway (Kimberly's room), he observed a female who appeared to be on the bed deceased. The bed covers were pulled up on her chest and the light was off (trial testimony). He didn't go in the room to make sure, but instead glanced into the room on the right (Kristen's room) where he reports he saw pretty much the same. He did note a pooling of blood which appeared to have dripped down the side of the bedding and onto the floor. He recalls she looked as if she had a baby bottle in her mouth. He didn't enter this room, either. 

He notes no visible disturbance at this time to the dining area but states the living room had a coffee table turned up on its edge and got a general sense of disarray in that room. His trial testimony reveals it was now that he observed the flower pot knocked over and a doll's head atop a step at the end of the hallway. There was also a blanket or quilt in that area which he believed to have been red in color. He returned to the master bedroom where he here testified Captain MacDonald was still mumbling. He also notes there were a few people in the bedroom when he returned, but no one seemed to be trying to help. They were all just standing around. MacDonald was repeating the phrases "there were four of them," "acid is groovy," and "I can't breathe." At one point, MacDonald was heard to say he felt he needed a chest tube and Mica claimed not to have known what that was or what the victim meant. In another moment of consciousness MacDonald tried to push Mica off of him and said, "Forget it. I've got to check my kids." and "Look at my wife. I tried to find her pulse and I couldn't find it." Mica attempted to keep MacDonald restrained so as not to injure himself further and remained with the captain until medics came to take him. He states he did not move Mrs. MacDonald or see anyone else move or interfere with her body. 

His observations of MacDonald's physical condition had been that of what looked like fingernail marks dug into his chest, dried blood on his face and/or chin, and a red welt on his head. This, again, was only really mentioned at all in the trial testimony nine years after the murders. His article 32 testimony indicates the captain was cold, laboring for breath, shivering quite a lot, teeth chattering, body becoming rigid as it was shaking. By the time of trial Mica describes him as warm, generally healthy looking. His recollections of MacDonald's statements/mumbles have also become quite embellished compared to all previous statements in the immediate days following the crime. Now the Black male was wearing a fatigue jacket with "Army stripes...er...Sergeant stripes." Where there was an actual denial about the blonde woman wearing boots in all of the 1970-71 statements, now she has boots and they were muddy. In addition to "acid is groovy" they were now apparently stated to have said, "Hit the pigs," "Hit them again," and "Kill the pigs." 

Returning to the living room, there were now at least six people present there alone. Lieutenant Paulk, Sergeant Tevere, and four others who are unnamed. He again observed the coffee table still turned on its side, a wallet laying on the floor. He is instructed to wait for CID who were on their way. In later testimony, it would be discovered that by this point there were a minimum of 14 people inside the residence, not all of whom were accounted for or known. 

Mr. Alexander, the photographer, was only just arriving as Mica was leaving the scene at roughly 4:15 a.m. In comparing photographic evidence at the Article 32 hearing with Mica's observations at the scene, there are noted discrepancies. The evidence photos of Collette MacDonald show a white towel over her midriff, which was bare when Mica arrived at the home. The photographs also show a piece of blue cloth over her left breast, which was clearly exposed at the time of the incident. He also testifies that a Specialist Williams was already down the hall when he followed Trevere. The images of the area where he'd observed the doll's head and blanket show that the blanket was in a different place than where he'd remembered it. The doll's head is also missing entirely from the photo. Again in the evidence photos, the flower pot which Mica had noted was knocked on its side was now right side up and set back into its base. It was also now sitting near the end of the coffee table where initially it had been in front. 

Then there's the unknown Caucasian male who was apparently loitering inside the living room during the investigation. He was noted by Mica to be 22-23 years old, wearing blue jeans and an army field jacket, hair longer than regulation but not 1970s long. He was standing first near the front door, then began touching things in the room. When Mica told him to stop he said, "Oh." and went to sit on the couch which Mica also told him not to do. He then returned to his starting place near the front door of the home. Mica thought it looked like this unknown male had picked up something on his way over to the couch, but no one ever checked him or asked about it.

[xiulan]

Sergeant Richard Dennis Tevere, MP: 503d MP Battalion, Company A. First into the house and the only other MP to have direct contact with Jeffrey MacDonald at the scene.

Tevere noted, as did Mica, that the rain that night was intense but intermittent and there was very little in the way of vehicle or pedestrian traffic on Post. He and his partner Specialist Mario D'Amore were assigned to patrol the Corregidor Courts, Anzio Acres, and the Main Post on the night of 16-17 February 1970. Tevere was driving. At the Article 32 hearing, Tevere testifies that they received the 3:42 a.m. call to proceed to a domestic disturbance on Castle Drive and they responded immediately to that call. At trial, he states that another patrol was given the call and he replied to dispatch indicating he and D'Amore would respond as backup. They were on Riley Road and drove south to Honeycutt, drove east to North Lucas, east on Spear Drive to Castle Drive. He observed no civilian vehicles, two military vehicles, no pedestrians. It took them 3-4 minutes to arrive on scene, where he found several MPs at the front door, trying to get into the house, according to his Article 32 statements.

He claims (Article 32) as he approached the steps he was instructed by Lt. Paulk to go around the back of the house to see if he could get in the back door. He borrowed a flashlight from another MP, of which he testified at trial there were two (Lt. Paulk and another MP). Was it several at this point or only two? In his statement that morning to CID, Tevere seems certain there were two people at the door, by the Article 32 he remembers several, and by trial in 1979 he's back down to two. In his sworn statement he also omits having been instructed to go around the back of the home and appears to have done so on his own initiative. The main wooden door at the back was open, the screen door was closed. Tevere enters the residence and proceeds about two feet into the bedroom where he finds what appears to be an unconscious Caucasian male lying on the floor in only pajama bottoms. Next to the male was a Caucasian female covered in blood and apparently dead.

It is then that Tevere runs back out toward the front of the home, asks for more MP’s and a call to Womack. Or says, “Let’s get some other MP’s back here. I believe somebody has been stabbed.” He thinks he recalls one or two MP’s (SP4 Mica and SP4 Morris) following him then back into the house. By the time of trial, he additionally remembers Lt. Paulk was in this group. He is adamant in his instruction to them not to touch anything and to watch where they were walking. Interesting considering what came next. Morris then seems to sort of disappear and there is only one example I’ve been able to find of any record of him at all at this scene, a little paragraph statement in an FBI file. Tevere’s partner, D’Amore, is also pretty well overlooked as a witness.

When he returns to the master bedroom he notices the word ‘PIG’ spelled out on the headboard in blood and a small knife on the floor in front of a dresser. There was blood on the walls and floor as well as a rather obvious “wet circle” on the bed. During his trial testimony, he also recalls blood on the ceiling. On the floor at the foot of the bed was a pile of “sheets and what-not.” The phone was off the hook and he thought it to be a dead line as he attempted to use it to call Womack Army Hospital himself.

It would later be noticed that the phone in the kitchen was also off the hook and dangling from the wall.

After this he went down the hall to one of the children’s rooms (Kristen’s) and saw blood on the floor near the bed and also what he believed was a child who “appeared to have been beaten or murdered.” Across the hall in the other bedroom, he sees another child with blood on her face who, again, appeared to be “beaten or killed.” Both children were covered with blankets, only their faces exposed. He next turned his attention to the living room where the coffee table had been overturned and there were several objects on the floor. While observing the living room, Tevere spoke for a bit with Sergeant Hagney who had by this time also entered the residence.

At this point, another unnamed MP unlocked the front door and to make sure nothing had been touched. It is here Tevere claims to have gone back to administer CPR to the adult male before then going to hold the man’s legs while Mica took over CPR. He believed the man to be in severe shock and near death, from his initial observations. Tevere notes Cpt. MacDonald is clothed only in pajama bottoms and that his wife was somewhat disheveled in her pajamas. He remembers that her top was partly opened and not torn as Mica stated. Upon returning to the master bedroom, Tevere says there were now several other MP’s in the room including the MP duty officer. They were apparently scattered around the room with clipboards watching the show as Mica tried to save MacDonald’s life.

Tevere also records that the male victim indicated there had been two male Caucasians, one male “Negro”, and one blonde female Caucasian carrying a candle. The victim stated he had been stabbled and beaten with an unknown object and that the attackers kept saying “acid is groovy” and “kill the pigs.” It is actually Tevere who first brings up the subject of muddy boots, the field jacket, and other details Mica doesn’t mention until the trial nearly a decade later. I don’t know how reliable any of this is, however, because Tevere spent most of his time not in the room with Cpt. MacDonald.

Then Lieutenant Paulk asks Tevere as to the condition of the children and Sgt. Tevere’s response sets off a telling exchange at the Article 32 hearing:

    Tevere: I said they seemed to – they appeared to be dead.
    Col. Rock: Excuse me, did you say the children appeared to be bad or dead?
    Tevere: Well, I didn’t – I just assumed they were dead. I didn’t know.
    Mr. Segal: That’s not what I understood the witness – I thought he said that he told Lieutenant Paulk that the children were hurt pretty bad. Am I stating directly what you said just a minute ago?
    Tevere: Yes.
    Col. Rock: That they were hurt pretty bad?
    Tevere: I didn’t have no way of knowing if they were dead or not.

Indeed. He didn’t do more than shine a flashlight over them and walk away.

Sgt. Tevere says he remained another ten minutes perhaps after returning to the master bedroom. He’s a little sketchy on the details but thinks he went to a neighbor’s house to find out why the ambulance hadn’t yet arrived on the scene. Though he wasn’t sure whether or not he’d actually used the neighbor’s phone or just talked to Lieutenant Paulk for a few minutes while he was maybe using the neighbor’s phone. He claims he then left that house and went back to the MacDonald residence, entering through the front door this time and then proceeding back to the bedroom. He remained there “for a minute or two” until the ambulance finally showed up.

He followed the stretcher out to the ambulance and helped to put Cpt. MacDonald into the back before returning to the house and finding Colonel Kriwanek there with at least one CID agent. Also present were Specialist Selick, the photographer, and then two or three other people who Tevere couldn’t readily identify. At this time he and his partner along with Mica and Morris drove back to PMO to make their official statements.
He didn't see the man in jeans mentioned by Mica. 

Tevere confirms the crime scene photos do not reflect the condition in which he found the victims or the home with regard to additional articles on Collette covering portions of her body which had originally been exposed as well as the doll’s head and a blanket or article of clothing on the stairs/in the hallway. He mentions the discrepancy with the plant, doesn’t recall the magazines in the pictures having been on the floor in the living room when he was there, and didn’t see a wallet on the floor. He also states emphatically that he placed the telephone receiver back in the position which he found it, that he did not hang it up. During the Article 32 hearing, Captain Somers objects to the crime scene photographs depicting the telephone being entered into evidence. He is overruled and Tevere testifies that the phone in the pictures is not at all how he found it or how he left it.  

When asked how long he was on the scene, total, from first arriving to leaving for PMO, Tevere claims it not to have been more than fifteen minutes. He then stated there had been somewhere between a dozen and fifteen people through the house during the time he was present. 

[xiulan]

Lieutenant Joseph Loy Paulk: 503d Military Police Battalion, Company C. He was PMO duty officer on the morning of 17 February 1970.

In the early hours of the morning, Paulk was summoned over by the PMO desk sergeant, SSG Boulware, concerning an unusual call on the line. A captain or somebody was on with a telephone operator. Paulk took the phone and had difficulty making sense of the conversation but was able to gather someone needed help at 544 Castle Drive. As he drove to the residence he believed he had used the radio to ask another MP vehicle to meet him at the scene. This was called out as a domestic disturbance and Paulk did not use his siren or rush to get there.

Once he arrived, he found the front door to be locked and didn’t recall seeing any lights on inside. Everything was quiet and no one was standing in the vicinity. Paulk remembers sending Sergeant Tevere around back to check for an open door, then began returning to his vehicle to call PMO for a search warrant. While doing this, Tevere came around front yelling for someone to send for an ambulance. Paulk thought he immediately radioed HQ for an ambulance before running around the back of the home.

He first saw a woman lying on the floor and noted two of his MP’s, Mica and Tevere, were already inside. The male victim in the room was attempting to prop himself up with his right hand and said, “Jesus Christ, look at my wife.” Paulk presumed the woman was dead. Leaving the two MP’s to administer aid to MacDonald, Lt. Paulk started an inspection of the premises.

He left the master bedroom and began down the hall where he observed a child in the bedroom on the left who appeared to be dead. He didn’t enter the room or turn on a light. Instead, he approached the doorway of the bedroom on the right side of the hall and saw what he felt was another dead child. Paulk then proceeded to the living room where he noted the overturned coffee table, three magazines on the floor, a plant lying on the floor outside its pot which had been knocked over. He then moved on to the kitchen and made a cursory check of the sink for weapons and went back to the living room.

At this time, the front door opened and several MP’s entered the residence. Paulk, trying to preserve the scene, ordered all unnecessary personnel out of the building and admonished the rest not to move or touch anything. Back in the bedroom he received a reporting from Tevere of MacDonald’s description of the attackers and saw that the male victim was noticeably weaker than when Paulk had first observed him.

The lieutenant then exited through the front door and saw a neighbor, Kalin, on the lawn but the man was unable to give any pertinent information. Paulk did ask to use Kalin’s phone and then called headquarters to advise them of the assailants’ description as well as light a fire under someone’s ass about the ambulance. When advising orders for a road block, the desk sergeant informed him one had already been instituted. After this conversation, Paulk was told the ambulances were having trouble locating the residence, so he dispatched Sergeant Caldwell to go find them and escort them over.

Back in the home, Lt. Paulk again ordered all unnecessary personnel to leave and gave another warning about preservation of the scene. There was a bloody footprint in the hallway, but he didn’t remember exactly where when he made his official statement. He did feel as if it was one made by a child or a small-footed female and thought this blood also appeared dry.

He returned to the master bedroom and this time noted a knife on the floor near a dresser and adjacent to the woman’s body. He described it as a type of paring knife. Paulk also noted what appeared to be dried blood in the woman’s hair and head as well as on Captain MacDonald’s legs. An obvious wet spot on the bed was about two feet in diameter and the sheets looked pulled back. The word “PIG” was written above the headboard in blood.

Lieutenant Paulk began taking notes and started to notice dirt and grass and so forth in the residence for the first time. He was firm that he had not remembered seeing any of this prior to the additional personnel being admitted to the home. His notes do include a mention of an additional person which he first thought was a medic out of uniform or perhaps wearing what looked like a medic shirt underneath a fatigue jacket. At the time, he’d dismissed this and so did not make detailed observations or take much more notice of the man who had fit in ‘just enough’ to not be thrown out by anyone.

At about this time, PMO and CID arrived on scene and relieved Paulk, instructing him to go to the Provost Marshal’s office for a conference. He did attempt to bring all of the newcomers up to date, but seems to have been pushed out fairly quickly without securing a reliable transfer of command at the scene. Following that, he was dispatched to Womack Army Hospital to conduct an interview with Cpt. MacDonald. The statement was again repeated that the attackers were two white males, one “Negro” male, and one white female. Now he introduces the black male as having worn a fatigue jacket bearing Sergeant stripes with a rocker and says the white female was wearing a dark floppy hat and knee length go-go boots which appeared either shiny or wet. Still no mention by MacDonald himself of mud or dirt on those boots and this description seems to indicate something contrary to that.

It is also now he recalls a man with the surname Badger who had been busted down two ranks over drugs. He’d attempted to obtain a discharge because of his drug problem but MacDonald told him such action was not in his power to do. This took place the day before the murders. Badger had been a member of the 6th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. There was someone else, whose name MacDonald could not remember at all, whom he’d committed to the mental clinic. Jeff thought this was also a potential lead to track down and for some reason stood out to him.

It would later be discovered this other possible suspect was Robert Wallack who’d been admitted to the ER at Cape Fear Valley Hospital for a heroine overdose. His friends took him there to avoid having to report this to superior officers. MacDonald was on duty in the ER that night and saved the soldier’s life, but a nurse called police when she discovered heroine was at issue.

What stands out most concerning Lieutenant Paulk for me is how much his job as investigator constantly seemed to be supplanted by that of babysitter. He was constantly telling people to get out of the house, constantly admonishing people not to touch anything because there were people touching everything, spending inordinate amounts of time dedicated to getting an ambulance to dispatch and arrive... Even with bureaucracy being what it is, this man was almost perpetually being pulled out of his attempts at a thorough and accurate survey of the complete scene. When time was finally available, even his notes reflect the condition of the home had changed since his cursory walk-through. Then he was removed rather abruptly to leave his crime scene in the hands of people with no interest in being brought up to speed or allocating a proper transfer.

[xiulan]

Sergeant Robert John Duffy: 503d Military Police Battalion, Company A.

Duffy was on patrol when he heard a radio call for a disturbance in the Corregidor Courts area, where he happened to be at that time. He requested the address a second time and claims he was given 344 Castle Drive. He proceeded to that address and knocked, rang the doorbell, and received no response. After a few minutes Sergeant Hagney, the patrol supervisor came up to Duffy and informed him he was at the wrong house.

Once he arrived at the MacDonald home, he saw two patrol cars. Believing he saw movement near one of the front windows, Duffy then yelled for people to go around back because someone was in the house. Shortly realizing it was another MP, he went to the rear of the residence where he found SP4 Morris, Mica’s partner, standing outside. He claims Morris told him to go ahead into the house and he found Mica by the door of the master bedroom. He even says he pushed Mica out of the way so he could get a better look at the victims.

Duffy reports what he saw was the male victim with his arms wrapped tightly around the female victim’s neck and felt there was some sort of struggle in progress. He is also quite certain he saw the towel and maybe the blue cloth present on Mrs. MacDonald when he arrived. Sergeant Duffy additionally recalls the room was brightly lit, whereas everyone else so far has described the bedroom as being partially lit by a small source of light. Enough to not need a flashlight, but not so bright that attention was immediately drawn to all the blood on the walls and ceiling or even to make the wet spot on the bed visible as a pool of blood.

As soon as Captain MacDonald makes mention of the kids, Duffy claims he ran down the hall and into a bedroom where he found a child bleeding from her neck and shoulder. Note that every other person who looks into the children’s rooms is clear the blankets were pulled up so only their faces were visible and also that the rooms were both dark and required a flashlight to even make out the bodies in the beds. At any rate Duffy says he then ran out to his vehicle and called for an ambulance, but states that when he got back to the rear entrance of the house people from Womack were already there and in the master bedroom. So was a man in a fatigue jacket with dungarees and boots; who he also assumed was from Womack for some reason.

Duffy did not go back inside the home.

Another point of interest with this MP is that he claimed to have sought permission to set up a roadblock. He couldn’t recall if he’d attempted to do this before arriving at the first, wrong, address or after having been in the MacDonald home, but indicates repeatedly that a description of multiple suspects had been broadcast over the radio prior to his arriving on the scene. As a matter of fact, he said he was certain the information about assailants came out almost immediately after the initial call to a domestic disturbance on Castle Drive.

Pretty much Duffy’s account of everything he did that morning sounds like quilted together scraps he may have overheard second- or third-hand rather than the recollection of an incident he was present for and took part in.

[xiulan]

SP4 Dennis Morris: 503d Military Police Battalion, Fort Bragg. Partner of SP4 Mica. All information from the Article 32 hearing. Morris did not give a statement to CID and he was not called at trial.

Morris states he and Mica passed through Corregidor Courts two or three times during the course of their patrol and does not remember seeing anyone on foot at any time. Upon arriving at the MacDonald residence, he recalls someone shouting for people to come to the back door which he then proceeded to do. He says he was the last to enter the home, following SP4 Mica, Sergeant Duffy, Lieutenant Paulk, and Sergeant Tevere.

Morris hesitated in the utility room near the entrance to the master bedroom. He remembers seeing the two bodies on the floor from his vantage point and claims the towel and blue cloth were present over the female victim’s body when he observed her. He then went from the utility room down the hallway to the front door in order to unlock it for the remaining personnel to gain access. Upon finding the door to already be open, he headed back down the hallway with a brief glance into the living room.

In the living room he thought he saw the flower pot standing, no debris or magazines on the floor near the coffee table, and generally didn’t remember anything particular about that room. Morris also states that there were at least 4 or 5 additional people which he assumed were all MPs in the living room at that time. As he approached the master bedroom again, someone said there should be a guard at the back door to keep the public from entering the premises and so he did. This is where he remained for the duration and a further 4 or 5 MPs entered the house through the back door while he was standing there.

Under cross, he admits he was shown all of the crime scene photographs roughly 6 weeks prior to the hearing and changes his mind on the stand as to whether or not he saw the towel and blue cloth on Colette. He also claims Captain MacDonald's body was moved at least six feet and toward the hallway door of the master bedroom before Mica began CPR. 

[xiulan]

Sergeant Mario D'Amore: 503d Military Police Battalion. Sergeant Tevere's partner. The only interview or statement I have been able to locate on him is through an FBI file containing a copy of a CID statement taken by Captain Brian Murtagh on 17 September 1974.

Sergeant D'Amore indicated that he entered the residence at 544 Castle Drive through the front door. He immediately noticed the table in the living room wasn't quite right and the room itself appeared disordered. He then proceeded down the hallway, not noticing either a doll or any clothing or blankets in the hall or on the steps. When he entered the master bedroom he saw Captain and Mrs. MacDonald on the floor. There were at least three MPs in the room already. He did not see a towel or any blue cloth covering Colette's body. He does remember seeing someone handling the phone, but can't recall who it was. D'Amore heard Captain MacDonald inquiring after his wife and children and also mumbling something about a girl with long blonde hair and a candle. 

D'Amore then went back down the hallway and observed the children in each of their rooms and seeing blood on the wall in one of those rooms but we don't know which one he was in at the time. Assuming both children were dead, he then walked back to the living room. By that time Sergeants Tevere and Duffy, Colonel Kriwanek, Lieutenant Paulk, Sellick, and "a colored individual" who was possibly Caldwell. Col. Kriwanek assigned D'Amore to now guard the front door, where he allowed the photographer into the residence. Shortly thereafter, he was relieved by yet another MP and went out to Castle Drive to copy down license plate numbers from cars parked there. Once he'd finished with this task, he was assigned to the back door where he remained until 0800. 

[albion]

Thank you Xiulan. Great posts and info.

It sounds like these MP's were not prepared for a case such as this one. Were these MP's specifically trained in this type of investigation? From what I have found on the web, it appears they dealt more with crowd control, bombs, and terrorism. Do you know what happened to these MP's after? I follow a couple of other cases with a similar LE performance, and I found that even though these cases were mishandled, some of the LEO's went on to a surprisingly successful career. Are there any instances of that with these MP's?

I was surprised also to see how unique this group was.

"About
The 503D Military Police Battalion (Airborne) serves distinctly as the Army’s only Airborne Military Police Battalion. At home and abroad, the paratroopers of the 503D Military Police Battalion (Airborne) stand ready to support the XVIII Airborne Corps."

"Reorganized 1 November 1970 to consist of Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 503d Military Police Battalion (Companies A, B, and C concurrently inactivated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina)"

Have you read about this case? They have ties back to Fayetteville and drug smuggling via North Carolina and Florida. And then it turns out that a previous rape case matched via DNA, sort of like the Earons case. And the rape victim and the murdered boys father worked together at a strip club in the past.

www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?28203-TX-Cheryl-Henry-22-amp-Andy-Atkinson-21-Houston-21-Aug-1990

[freudianslip]

I just skimmed this, but someone being convicted with projective tests as a main component of the evidence presented is an absolute travesty.