Melquiades
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2016
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I think that, although there is much to support the inditement of Scolaro, there would have been plenty of "doubt" for the defense to have introduced in a trial, had Scolaro not committed suicide before one could be held.
The prosecution would have had to place him at the scene of the crime with some sort of positive forensic evidence, which would have been difficult to do. There were no fingerprints of his there, nobody saw him there, no gas receipts or phone records place him in the vicinity, etc. And any time line would have to fit to times when he was known to be elsewhere.
And the ballistic report could not conclusively determine, by rules of evidence, that Scolaro owned or fired the guns used in the crime. That does not mean that they couldn't attempt to introduce the reports as evidence, but there would certainly be questions and doubts raised because it would basically be only circumstantial evidence at best: The guns used were caliber .22 and .25 and Scolaro might have owned such weapons at some time, but they were unavailable for testing to be conclusively linked to the murders. The .22 caliber shell casings found at the scene reportedly matched some found on a public shooting range where Scolaro had done some target practice - but that is not proof that they were fired from his gun.
You are perhaps correct to state that this was a personal crime, but it could also be a very "impersonal" one committed by someone who was completely sociopathic. Thus the consideration of other potential suspects. Where is the evidence that Scolaro had ever committed such a horrendous act before or after? On the other hand, John Norman Collins was a budding serial killer who HAD likely committed other murder(s) before and after the murder of this entire family - and for no apparent reason other than his own love of killing. Collins certainly has never had any empathy for any of his victims. Collins was a burglar who broke into homes, he attacked female victims viscously by bludgeoning, shooting, stabbing, and strangulation. His known victims had clothing removed or cut from their bodies and often were mutilated badly. As to firearms - he did own a .22 pistol as well as other firearms that he had stolen. He also had associates or partners in some of his crimes.
However, as with Scolaro, placing Collins (or any other potential suspect) at the scene of the Robison family murders would be a difficult but necessary task for any prosecution.
Again : the ballistics/firearms evidence is absolutely overwhelming here and leaves zero doubt in my mind who the guilty party is. They were able to match spent shells at the scene with spent shells known to have come from Scolaro's gun. Some of the ammo used in the killing was extremely rare but known to have been bought by Scolaro. He owned both types of guns used before mysteriously 'giving them away' right around the time of the killings.
Whether a jury would have convicted I have no idea, but this is the guy, and there's a reason he was about to be charged when he killed himself.
There is nothing to link Collins to the case at all, his MO is entirely different, and there is zero explanation for how the firearms evidence could have been connected to him. He didn't do it.
This is the definition of an Occam's Razor case. The simplest explanation is the correct one, and the prime suspect with motive/means/opportunity and a mountain of evidence pointing at him is the guy who did it, not the freaking Zodiac or something.