How many folks reading this have been on a jury? Most, I'll bet. In a courtroom, the D. A. is a highly respected, articulate, highly credible figure. The D.A. will project a strong passionate belief; a certainty, that the defendant is guilty. Yet every juror knows, or should know, that the opinion of the D.A. counts for NOTHING. The only thing that counts is the evidence the D.A. presents. True, we are not the jury. This forum can not condemn a man to prison but it can undermine a man's standing in the community.
The only evidence of DR's guilt that anyone has offered is the "fact" that Law Enforcement has named him a POI and obtained some search warrants. The rest of the discourse from the many on this forum who are convinced of DR's guilt is to try undermine the rather compelling exculpatory evidence, which includes: the fact that JW's footprints end next to unknown tire tracks on the Driveway, the very similar crime in Jayneville that DR can effectively be ruled out and DR's lack of any history of inappropriate behavior towards or interest in, young boys, and of rash or impulsive criminal acts.
It is SOP for law enforcement to play a poker game with a suspect, particularly a suspect with no experience with the "system". You pretend you've got 4 Aces and hope the suspect will just fold and give a full confession. It didn't work in case. Either DR was just too diabolically cleaver or he was, in fact innocent.
At this point, the game playing should be over. If there is significant evidence that a member of the community who works daily with children is really a child killer even if this evidence isn't strong enough to prosecute, it is time to let the public know. If scrutiny has fallen on someone who no longer actively being investigated, there are ways to express this without absolutely clearing the person. It is done all the time.
There is no substantive reason most evidence in an investigation should not be disclosed. Sure, they need some "hold back" information to validate confessions and witness statements and some evidence is subject to tampering or manipulation if the suspect were aware of it, but the real reason most information in an investigation is withheld is to conceal what is know and what is not know; generally to create the illusions that they are further along than they really are. In the initial stages of an investigation, this tactic might put pressure on the perp and perhaps witnesses. Later in the investigation, the tactic is primarily used to prevent unfavorable media scrutiny.
What I am saying is that if Sheriff Sanner has evidence that DR is involved, it is time he let the public know. If he fears that the local media will take him to task if certain details of the investigation come to light, well he should let the public know as well, but he probably will do all he can to cover it up.
Many of the folks in this forum are local to St Joseph (I am not). What is needed now is a lot less bickering over details derived through conjecture and speculation and more serious pressure on Sheriff Sanner to make details of the investigation available to the public.
