Kassab filed a citizens criminal complaint in April 1974, petitioning a federal court to convene a grand jury and determine if MacDonald could be charged. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. In other words, an FBI lab technician trusted exculpatory evidence to a member of the prosecution team. Kill the pigs.. In a video published online in December, he spoke about how he had overcome drug addiction, and detailed the cycle of using, getting hooked, needing money, and then committing crime. In Fayetteville, an army town, strong tensions existed between army types like Jeffrey MacDonald on one side of the war, and hippies and protesters on the other. WebIn 1971, his father-in-law, Freddy Kassab, became progressively suspicious of MacDonald and sought formal reopening of the case. Not only did the U.S. Army surgeon marry his high school sweetheart, but he had a flourishing career, two beautiful young daughters, and a son on the way. Thinking that he could never reveal it? His wife Colette and his children have also been forever denied these things -- but not, I have come to believe, by the man who is currently serving three consecutive life sentences. Kassab wanted to find justice and began writing letters to the Army and congressmen slamming the investigators for their errors and urging authorities to continue the investigation. He awoke to the sound of screaming and found three male intruders being overseen by a blonde woman. MacDonald had been just a teenager at the time and was dating Colette, his high school sweetheart. Inexperienced military police failed to pick up a woman near the house who fit MacDonalds description. But he taunted the police. He worked first in a stove factory, a physically taxing and low-paying job, and later became a molder in a factory making brake shoes for the railroad. Family members of radio personality Casey Kasem have settled a lawsuit against his widow that alleged her neglect and physical abuse led to his death in 2014. The now 76-year-old is serving three consecutive life sentences and is currently housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland . The nine-year lag between the murders and the trial is extremely unusual; experts consider such a lag to pose a great danger of wrongful conviction. Im giving you an extra copy for Bernie Segal [the defense counsel]. "More senior criminal figures are exploiting the vulnerabilities of younger or less sophisticated offenders," he said. The Tibas, Haddaras, Chaouks, Kassabs, and Kheirs are north-west Melbourne's version of the Five Families, the major players in the New York mafia. MacDonald now waits to see if the federal judge will vacate his 33-year-old conviction. He was more interested in working with people on hallucinogenic and things like that. MacDonald said there had been a stabbing and begged for an ambulance. This can drive a surge in shootings, and then be forgotten again just as quickly, said Detective Inspector Stephen Clark of the armed crime squad. Walk through the house, walk through the rooms and talk about what we know,investigator Mike Pickering said in the docuseries. MacDonalds relationship with his father-in-law, who had been a staunch supporter, became strained. Jeffrey MacDonald behind bars in Terminal Island federal penitentiary. Of all places! You think you know what youre seeing, but then you arent so sure. He could get an answer by the end of this year. He was given an honorable discharge. After learning about the case of convicted killer and U.S. Army surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald, read about John List, who killed his family in cold blood and then disappeared for 18 years. Good potential for the future, so therefore we saw nothing wrong with them getting married, Kassab once said of his son-in-law, according to the docuseries. Born Jeffrey Robert MacDonald on Oct. 12, 1943, in New York City, the fledgling doctor grew up in Patchogue, Long Island. Together, Mildred who Stevenson said came to mortally hate her former son-in-law and Freddy Kassab pushed for MacDonalds arrest. I contacted his office, and to my surprise, he was willing to talk to me. WebWe found 33,440 records for Kassab last name. Is it possible that Jeffrey MacDonald will get justice under these circumstances? The crimes committed by the families were left to locally-based detectives to investigate, rather than specialist squads, until the Santiago Taskforce was formed in 2008. Two years into MacDonalds undergraduate studies at Princeton, Stevens became pregnant. 1,169 Birth, Marriage & Death. But then I felt uneasy. Kassab filed a citizens criminal complaint in April 1974, petitioning a federal court to convene a grand jury and determine if MacDonald could be charged. The lead prosecutor for the case, Jim Blackburn began to analyze every piece of evidence from the trial, including MacDonald's pajama shirt, which was draped over Colette's body, and the bedsheet she was wrapped in. McGinniss' publisher settled with MacDonald out of court, after the judge called the author a conman. (This story, in its own right, became a famous book about journalistic ethics by Janet Malcolm.). He was troubled by MacDonalds apparently cavalier attitude about the brutal murders on an appearance of "The Dick Cavett Show. That kind of story never ends. In this case, it carries particular weight: police are trying to break the hold, in some cases, of family ties that go back generations. The shootings can be over particularly petty reasons, not just the drug trade: women, a perceived slight, or, increasingly, a prison feud. Will artificial intelligence overthrow its capitalist overlords? Eventually, after pressure from Colettes family, MacDonald was indicted and found guilty of the three murders on August 29, 1979. Both brothers married women in Syria and brought them back to the United States. Allard Lowenstein supporting MacDonalds claim that the Army wrongfully accused him and were trying to cover up their mistake. {{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}. One thing about this case is never in doubt no matter whos talking: If Wade Smith had been able to lead and give his closing remarks, MacDonald would be a free man today. Police agree it would be futile to appeal to gun-slingers on the grounds that they could ruin a rival's life. Smerling is the director of the documentary series A Wilderness of Error, which examines the MacDonald case. A lengthy trial heard Moustafa and Kassab had gone to the Brunswick panel beating shop to confront Moustafa over $50,000 in cash and $10,000 in aftershave they believe he had stolen. These were the families police identified in 2011 as causing most of the trouble in the band, which stretches roughly from Coburg North to Campbellfield, then in an arc around to Altona in the west. He explained his lie initially by attributing it to drug addiction-induced paranoia and then said he believed that once he told his family the lies, he had to keep lying.. Why did people in the community believe he did it? In the early '80s, I whipped through a dog-eared copy of Fatal Vision, Joe McGinniss sensational true-crime novel about the killings. That didnt happen here. Although Kassab didnt join the family until Colette was a teenager, he had always been close with his stepdaughter. Kassab filed a citizens criminal complaint in April 1974, petitioning a federal court to convene a grand jury and determine if MacDonald could be charged. Out of all the evidentiary and procedural twists and turns, I asked Silverglate to name the one that bothered him the most about the MacDonald case. I wasnt there that night. A finger squeezes a trigger until the chamber empties. Weve always understood the importance of calling out corruption, regardless of political affiliation. Bettmann Archive/Getty ImagesRep. MacDonald was tried in a civilian court in 1979. WebWe found 33,440 records for Kassab last name. He was a nice, presentable young man. Mica remembered seeing a woman who fit this description while en route to the scene but said the Armys Criminal Investigation Division (CID) omitted this during their subsequent inquest. - "Poynter" fonts provided by fontsempire.com. Lynn Parramore: In all your years as a lawyer, what makes this case stand out? I personally delivered a copy by hand to every congressman and every senator in the country.. Brighton terrorist Yacqub Khayre allegedly was only a phone call to a north-west contact away from being able to obtain the shotgun he used to kill a man, take a woman hostage and shoot three police last month. In 1905, Wadea married Sara Hajjar, who had been educated at an English boarding school and was teaching at a mission school for Jewish children in Damascus prior to her marriage. Kassab a one-time Canadian Army intelligence operator who had once lost his own wife and daughter in a bombing of London during World War II initially believed MacDonalds account of the night and became a staunch and vocal supporter of his son-in-law, the Washington Post reported in 1984. He was more interested in working with people on hallucinogenic and things like that. LP: Then why did MacDonald, the emblem of law-and-order, the Green Beret, become a suspect? In 1920 there were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania. He continued to work as a doctor and moved to California. What do you recall of the in-laws in the trial? Mr Oueida has been overseas for most of the time since the attack, predominantly in Lebanon and Dubai a haunt for a string of Australian organised crime figures. Did Jeffrey MacDonald Brutally Slay His Pregnant Wife And Daughters Or Did The Cops Get The Wrong Guy? Harvey Silverglate, a renowned civil liberties advocate, has been an appellate attorney for MacDonald. Freddy Kassab had inserted himself into the 1970 military hearing and made himself the center of a media circus, holding news conferences and firing off letters to members of Congress. Back in the 1979 trial, a lawyer named Jerry Leonard represented Helena Stoeckley. A portrait photograph of Wadea (left) and Aelyas (right) Kassab. Hes the guy that lives next door. That is why, police say, it is important to consider what the shooting represents, rather than the act itself. WebWadea Kassab was born in Damascus in 1872 to an Orthodox family that had long and deep connections to British and American Protestant missionaries in Damascus and Beirut. View all records. Silverglate believes that Jeffrey MacDonald has been railroaded, and that this railroading exposes disturbing trends in our federal criminal justice system. Until recently, most people saw Picture #1. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Because that's what crime figures do in the north-west, most of the time. In addition, DNA testing on evidence that was recovered from the fingernails scrapings of one of the victims and a hair found under another victim did not match MacDonald. Its a scary, spooky story that sounds made up. The veneer of the MacDonalds perfect marriage had also began to crack. The Esquire story, for all its salaciousness, touched upon real issues that plagued many communities outside of California. The ONeills befriended him and altered the course of his life. Through his aggressive pursuit of the case, MacDonald was indicted. He didnt do that. Eventually, he turned on the man he had once so ardently defended. He made fun of them. He theorized that diet pills caused MacDonald to fly into a fit of rage. So did I. 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