One thing everyone needs to keep in mind as these cases progress. We, the public, never know how things will go in a trial jury. Remember how people thought the O.J. and Casey Anthony trials would come out.
The Prosecution can add, drop, or change charges. The Defense can offer plea deals that may be accepted for various reasons. The jury can be unpredictable...
Thanks, Dudly. I think it's also important both sides be heard and provide evidence.
If public forums on social media spend the next several months or years posting that, no matter how good the state's case is, the Wagners will still be found innocent, that's not objective.
As I've mentioned many times before, defense attorneys watch what is posted here. In more than one case, I've seen arguments posted here at Websleuths repeated, word for word, by defense attorneys during a trial.
Arguing both sides of a case is only fair, but people should back up their arguments with some evidence or sound reasoning.
Using the OJ Simpson trial as an example, it was widely believed that the trial went off track because it wasn't properly managed by the judge. There also wasn't an accomplice who pleaded guilty and revealed a large cache of key evidence from the crime.
So far, we're seeing good pre-trial management by Judge Deering. He's allowing a lot of leeway to protect the defendants' rights (and to avoid appeals). At the same time, he's also being fair by holding everyone to a high standard in the process. So far, he doesn't seem like a judge who will let the defense attorneys get away with making a lot of wild and unfounded claims.
We should also give credit to citizens of Pike County for being able to produce an unbiased jury pool that will look at the cases fairly. For several years, their community was traumatized by this horrible massacre. I doubt they or the courts are going to produce a juror who will look at the mountain of evidence against the Wagners and claim they're not guilty, just because. We should also remember that it's very likely some of these trials will be held with jurors who come from different areas of Ohio.
As for appeals, that's a given. These are death penalty cases, so its normal to assume there will be appeals for years to come. They'll probably be based on technicalities, that's typical. Sure, we can argue in a million ways that the prosecution or judge will screw up somehow, but during a pre-trial period that's been ongoing for nearly 3 years, that hasn't happened. Maybe it would be helpful for people who feel that way to provide an example from this case for why that might happen.
I'm offering a few suggestions for discussing the downsides to this case as an alternative to simply repeating an opinion that the Wagners will be acquitted without offering reasons based on evidence and procedure in this case.