Wow. I have been following this case from Day 1.. but on Thursday I had surgery and have been fairly out of it since then and have fallen pretty far behind on the developments. My sincere apologies if I go over something already covered.
There are a couple things I wanted to toss out there;
First, the incinerator. I've heard from a fairly eco conscious person in the automotive industry that mobile incinerators, like the on on DM's farm, can used as a way of controlling pollutants if you MUST dispose of certain undesirable wastes. DM's father is well documented as caring deeply about the environment. Until a date of purchase is known, I think we can also assume that the incinerator could have been purchased at WM's behest with no nefarious ideas in mind. That's not to say that DM didn't used it for other nefarious reasons afterwards.
Second, this whole 'silence is evidence of guilt' debate. I see a lot of refuting of that fact that silence is guilt going on in this thread, and I won't for one second say that it's wrong. It's
extremely true that lawyers will advise you to stay silent for your own good, and that it is not up to you to prove your innocence. It is true that things innocent people have said to police with no lawyer have come back to haunt them.
However, I feel like arguments like this are a little too logical and are
missing a very large point.. we are not perfect logical beings.. we are emotional beings. We have emotions, well most of us, and we use them.
Imagine you are innocent and wrongly accused of MURDERING someone you did NOT murder.
Imagine you have been arrested, you're sitting in jail while complete strangers form personal opinions about deeply personal subjects (saying you may have murdered your own father!), your reputation is being ruined, your privacy invaded...
Think about how you would feel...
I can be 100% confident you would be mad and angry and that, lawyer advice be damned!, you'd want to say SOMETHING about your innocence.
Now sure, your lawyer won't let you even though you want to, but you're still mad, you want the REAL killers caught! Why are we not seeing that? Where are the lawyer interviews going, "DM is innocent and very upset by the accusations. He looks forward to his freedom and those responsible being found."?
Here are some quotes from DM's lawyer...
He does know hes in for long haul, Paradkar said. (MOO - red flag. If he's innocent why does he know he's in for the long haul? If I were innocent, if it were all wrong, I would expect to be home as soon as possible! Human nature - TB was missing for how long? What were the odds he was going to come home?.. I still held onto the smallest sliver of hope he was still alive somewhere. This is how we operate. If DM were innocent, he would never think he was in it for the long haul.)
Hes a bit of a philosopher, Paradkar said. (MOO - I don't care how much of a 'philosopher' you are. You would never ever be okay with being wrongly accused of murder. That is not how human emotions work. Think about the last time someone at work accused you of maybe not pulling your own weight when you know you darn well were, or anytime someone accused you falsely of anything.. how'd that make you feel? Exactly.)
Paradkar said that Millards mother is very distraught over her sons predicament. (MOO - yes, distraught is the proper emotion someone would feel when shocked so horribly. Why is DM not distraught? Why is he not shocked?)
So yes, silence is not guilt. Look where talking got Milgaard.. but that's just it. He was innocent and so he felt compelled to talk and explain himself, as most being falsely accused of something do.
Just my opinion, of course.
Quotes taken from article below
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2...formally_charged_with_firstdegree_murder.html