Not everyone here is out with pitchforks and torches to get JM. The charge does not come as a surprise, no, because unfortunately things work out a certain way, in certain scenarios, and this is unfolding pretty much as typical. The odds from the get go, when Hannah was considered missing, sadly, was that someone abuducted her, picked her up and did her harm. That she was disoriented, confused, lost, in a haze and did not show up where she was planning to go and was in contact with friends at that destination giving signs she was trying to get there is a factor. So, it was no surprsie she was picked up by someone who might have wanted to take advantage of her situation. That it's been over a week since she's shown up makes it statistically likely she is not alive. I wish LE had been able to question JM earlier, just in case, he did drop her off alive, somewhere remote, If she was alive and hurt at then, time was of the essence. LE should have bent over backwards even at the expense of getting a conviction later on to get info on her whereabouts as it should have been all about Hannah. Maybe they did. I made some critical remarks that it did not so appear, but we may never know that part. I'd really be upset with LE right now if I were Hannah's family, because I do suspect that not all that could have been done with JM to get info was done. If Hannah is found and was possilby alive this weekend or later....well, I'd be upset.
Without a body, it's still going to be difficult to get a conviction for a murder charge in this case unless the forensic evidence as well as circumstantial is overwhelming as in the Alexis Murphy case. That JM seems to be neglgent, sloppy, messy from the way he keeps his car and his paperwork, there is probably a good chance, he was careless in clearing out evidence of having Hannah in his car. BUt he HAD to have known he was seen by a number of people with Hannah that night and by people who knew her. He HAD to know that LE had his car as a target with that search warrent. Yet, he did not behave cautiously. He has said very little to LE, in part to the legal advice he did get, and with an experienced attorney who already spoke to him and who is no doubt following this case with more inside info than we have, he is likely to say much of anything. He does not have to do so. That often is another reason not to charge a person--when you need info, it's easier to get BEFORE he is a suspect when Miranda rights kick in. Doubt JM will say much even at trial.
No doubt other possibliities will be presented such as consensual sex if there is forensic evidence of that activity. Attorney can maintain client did have consensual sex and then dropped her off at some locale and that she so insisted and seemed just fine. Until and unless body is found, it could be a possiblilty. BUt GPS features on phones and phone records are going to make certain scenarios impossible and highly unlkely. DA has to show proof beyond a reasonable doubt, not dot every i, cross every t and prove that it's the only possiblility to get a conviciton, but there may be men on the jury who pick up drunk girls all of the time, put the moves on her and often score, who may feel this was just another one fo those cases. And it might well have been, except Hannah never made it back. The charges might not even be there if Hannah had made it back. A line is crossed even beyond that of whether something is rape or not when the person disappears or is found injured, or dead.
As for the other cases, LE has DNA on file and that can be determined definitively. This forum has been good about not mixing the cases since it's just speculation at this point. For those case, it either is, or isn't , and hangs on a DNA match, not circumstantial evidence, liklihoods, looking like things. Hopefully posters refrain from overt discussion until and unless evidence shows the match.
This forum is really more for the victims and their loved ones, as it overtly says. I have to refrain from some of my opinions because I frankly am more an advocate for the rights of those accused, and am becoming increasingly concerned with how MSM and people, due the internet, social media are being whipped into frenzies before the facts are all in and the case is not clear. Looking at the facts carefully, I could not see anything other than a NOT GUILTY verdict for Casey Anthony, and unless i"m missing a lot of info, had I been on that jury, I'd have said the same It would have been a misstep in a justice system otherwise, looking at it objective and from the standoint of facts, not raw emotion. And I do believe personally that CA was in some way responsible for her baby's death. So, I agree that the DA still has an uphill climb to secure a conviction even with public opinion on his side.
GIven the released facts, I did feel there was a realistic chance that JM was not the perp. There had to be Hannah evidence with his things, and evidence of some sexual activity, IMO for those charges. Not just a "i gave her a ride, so yes, she was in the car" type of thing. Not just loose hairs, clothing, fibres. So at this point, it's hard to be a rationale person looking at the charges that LE put off making as long as they did, as convinced as they were that they had there man, to not assume that JM did not go down the typical path of these sort of cases.
And as far as any new development, for Hannah to be alive, is what I'd love to be next. Oh, how I so hope.
