BBM
I know this and thanks for reiterating my point.
What I was getting at (sorry if I may have missed the mark in my explanation) is that the M's (not the Defense Attorneys) have never came straight out and explained why they are innocent.
Sure, there was a futile attempt to establish a timeline on FB and their attorney's gave statements of "innocent until proven guilty" along with this statement:
Nothing that clearly persuades doubt or WHY they are innocent.
Instead, all of their energy was quickly turned to blaming the E's and trying to make people feel sorry for them being harassed. :moo:
Deflection at its finest, in my opinion.
TM's attorney said, "She's ASSERTED that she's innocent" (he doesn't say "she IS innocent"). Then, he veers off course by talking about how she was homeschooling her kids, and how she loves her kids and they love her, which has absolutely nothing to do with the question he was asked, nor is it relevant to this case.
I mean, she surely wasn't up at 3 AM teaching her kids math problems on the night that Heather went missing. I don't believe her attorney was trying to say that anyway, but it's further proof that he was dodging the question.
I strongly believe that what someone says (or doesn't say) and how they say it tells us a lot about how they truly feel.
Take the following statement by McCollum, for example:
"I haven't seen anything so far, that really significantly incriminates her."
He used THREE qualifiers (so far, really, and significantly) in one sentence. Qualifiers are descriptive words used to indicate a degree of certainty. People tend to overuse them when they lack confidence in their statements. When used properly, they strengthen; when overused, they weaken.
If you separate out the two qualifiers, 'really' and 'significantly' and rewrite each statement twice---one using the word 'really' and one using the word 'significantly'---it's clear to see what he truly meant.
Without the word 'significantly':
"I haven't seen anything so far, that really incriminates her."
Without the word 'really':
"I haven't seen anything so far, that significantly incriminates her."
See how weak his statements sound?
"So far" is a different type of qualifier---words or phrases known as "weasel words". These qualifiers are used to avoid committing to your statement.
"I haven't seen anything, SO FAR...," lets us know that he's not certain that no other evidence exists, and he isn't sure if he'll be shown incriminating evidence in the future. Therefore, he won't commit to his statement without adding those weasel words, "so far." Those two words can redeem him if it's later proven that incriminating evidence does exist.
These are just a few of my thoughts and opinions about what McCollum has said, anyway. For what it's worth, SM's lawyer has sounded much more confident in his statements. His statements have been few, and those few have been straightforward. That might just mean he's smarter.