Been right up on that fence with you for quite a while now, southern_comfort.
Your point about the lack of an emphatic proclamation of innocence certainly is an interesting one. I know I've seen that brought up time and again in the media site comments, etc.
With Buford, I've always thought that pre-trial table-banging just might not be his style. He might get to that in front of a jury, not sure. Hogue now -- I'm not sure about him. Maybe he is about to start fist-banging...? Couldn't really detect that direction in the little public statements we have heard from him though... .
I think that, especially with overwhelming focus in recent years on some high-profile cases, defense attorneys have a difficult audience for pre-trial public statements. The public is primed to mistrust them, no matter what approach they use. Ultimately, of course, pre-trial perception is not really the main focus of their duties ... but guess it DOES matter, in one way and another.
I've had the feeling (just a deep hunch, not something I can explain through logic), from the very beginning, that there was going to be a huge twist and shocker somewhere in this -- and, of course, one could say Lauren's death and the aftermath has been nothing but a series of twists and shockers! But after every one of them I have sort of asked myself: Was that it, what I've been expecting? And somehow I keep having the feeling there is more to come.... I don't know what (if anything) "it" will be -- maybe a cascade of the sort of damning evidence you mention. I just don't know.
