I just finished watching an interesting 13 episode documentary on Netflix called 'The Staircase'. Some people here may have followed or heard about the story when it began in 2001. A man was accused of killing his wife, who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home. The documentary was recorded by the defense and includes actual footage of how they prepare witnesses, discuss strategies etc. along with film of the trial.
I give it a rating of 5 luminous spheroids of plasma held together by their own gravity.
The Staircase
The Staircase
https://m.facebook.com/Hayagrivassivaka ... 1215643012Joe Guy wrote:... I give it a rating of 5 luminous spheroids of plasma held together by their own gravity.
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
Re: The Staircase
I agree with your rating, I watched the series a while back when it was only available by rental on Amazon.
I’m fascinated by that case and especially the ornithological aspect, which I happen to buy entirely.
I’m fascinated by that case and especially the ornithological aspect, which I happen to buy entirely.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: The Staircase
The theory used by the defense was certainly for the birds.
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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: The Staircase
Ah. Fowl play was suspected?
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
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MajGenl.Meade
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Re: The Staircase
I missed the sneak-beak at this one
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
Re: The Staircase
BSG--is this the case where he defense maintained an owl attacked her? If it is, I recall the case and all the crap the prosecution presented on blood stain analysis from a later discredited (and fired) "expert". While I won't blame the guy for taking a no contest plea (especially as he avoided any further jail time), I would have liked to see the second trial. There was a lot of prosecutorial misconduct, and I'd be surprised if a jury not getting the tainted evidence (and hearing from the defense on the withheld evidence) wouldn't have convicted him.
Re: The Staircase
Big RR, The "Owl Theory" wasn't mentioned in the Netflix series I just watched. I researched it after reading your post because I knew nothing about it. It is the same case, though. BSG said she saw the series on Amazon. There must have been some editing done in the Netflix version. Either that or BSG just knows more about the case than what she saw in the documentary.
Re: The Staircase
Thanks Joe; if I recall, the owl theory was not raised until after the first trial, which may be why it was not mentioned in the film; but the case was pretty widely discussed in the press, especially after the misconduct of the prosecution expert was discovered. As I recall, based on the evidence no one expected a guilty verdict, but the general feeling was that the information admitted about his bisexual encounters pushed the jury to think or him as immoral and likely a killer.
Re: The Staircase
Yes, I’ve read and watched just about all the publicly available info on this case, as I found it fascinating. I’m convinced that Kathleen died a horribly tragic accidental death and that the cops and prosecutors just couldn’t accept that, so they had to persecute someone for a crime that didn’t even happen.
The version of The Staircase that I watched on Amazon was made by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and released 2013. It shows up on Amazon still, but it no longer available to rent. The Netflix one must be an altered and updated version because it’s the same director, de Lestrade - and when I started to watch it I was fairly quickly reminded I’d already seen it, so I didn’t watch beyond the first episode; I can’t recall for certain if the owl theory was in the earlier version, but I thought it was. There are several articles trending now on this theory, here’s one from Audubon: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.audubo ... tery%3Famp
As I recall the theory was originally asserted by a neighbor of Peterson’s who was also a defense attorney but not on his defense team; back when I first watched the documentary series in 2013/2014 I did a bunch of research and found that owl attacks on humans are actually fairly common, and certainly the wound pattern on Kathleen’s head alleged by the prosecution to have been made by the blowpipe (later found covered in dust with zero evidence of blood/DNA) were very consistent with an owl’s talons digging into her skull during such an attack - and as head wounds bleed copiously, it makes all kinds of common sense that she stumbled on the stairs after being attacked by an owl and lay there bleeding out and dying while Michael sat by the pool finishing his wine and cigar, completely oblivious to the fact that she hadn’t just gone up to bed as she’d intended to do after wishing him goodnight.
This is just like all the hundreds of parents and caregivers who have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned based on a shaken baby syndrome theory of evidence which hundreds of medical professionals somehow believed and pushed despite the very obvious reality that a baby couldn’t have been shaken hard enough to batter their brain without a single sign of neck injury - duh. I highly recommend the documentary The Syndrome available on Amazon Prime, and Frontline episode 16 from season 29 called The Child Cases - but beware, both will leave you utterly gutted by the realization that our criminal injustice system is truly deeply twisted and populated by droves of agenda driven, politically ambitious cops and prosecutors who are too often incapable of accepting death as a natural phenomenon rather than assigning blame and criminality to every tragedy they see.
FYI, I happen to know that despite the overwhelming evidence now undermining the theory of Shaken Baby Syndrome, including the recantations by some of the top pediatric specialists in the country who once promoted it, the National District Attorneys Association is still promoting it and teaching it to prosecutors in their child abuse and homicide prosecutions courses - I know thus because in early 2013 I attended their specialized child abuse/homicide training and was appalled to learn this, and when I raised the issue during a lecture I was shut down - so I walked out at the next break and didn’t complete the course, which I felt I couldn’t trust given their absolute refusal to even discuss the emerging evidence of wrongful convictions in many of these cases.
Many of you likely recall the Matthew Eappen case in Boston wherein UK nanny Louise Woodward was convicted of murder in the death of one of her charges, and the judge controversially reduced the conviction to manslaughter and released her on time served. In that case Barry Scheck presented a terrific defense establishing that Mattie died from a slow bleed after likely falling and bumping his head several days of even a week or more before he became very sick and ultimately died, but the jury bought into the prosecution’s very vehement presentation of Woodward as a spoiled sullen nanny who wanted to party instead of caring for her wards - juries are very susceptible to character assassination and far less so to hard science. I watched that trial pretty exhaustively on Court TV the first semester of my first year of law school, even skipping class to do so - and I recall at the verdict being sick and contemplating dropping out of the law even then.
The version of The Staircase that I watched on Amazon was made by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and released 2013. It shows up on Amazon still, but it no longer available to rent. The Netflix one must be an altered and updated version because it’s the same director, de Lestrade - and when I started to watch it I was fairly quickly reminded I’d already seen it, so I didn’t watch beyond the first episode; I can’t recall for certain if the owl theory was in the earlier version, but I thought it was. There are several articles trending now on this theory, here’s one from Audubon: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.audubo ... tery%3Famp
As I recall the theory was originally asserted by a neighbor of Peterson’s who was also a defense attorney but not on his defense team; back when I first watched the documentary series in 2013/2014 I did a bunch of research and found that owl attacks on humans are actually fairly common, and certainly the wound pattern on Kathleen’s head alleged by the prosecution to have been made by the blowpipe (later found covered in dust with zero evidence of blood/DNA) were very consistent with an owl’s talons digging into her skull during such an attack - and as head wounds bleed copiously, it makes all kinds of common sense that she stumbled on the stairs after being attacked by an owl and lay there bleeding out and dying while Michael sat by the pool finishing his wine and cigar, completely oblivious to the fact that she hadn’t just gone up to bed as she’d intended to do after wishing him goodnight.
This is just like all the hundreds of parents and caregivers who have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned based on a shaken baby syndrome theory of evidence which hundreds of medical professionals somehow believed and pushed despite the very obvious reality that a baby couldn’t have been shaken hard enough to batter their brain without a single sign of neck injury - duh. I highly recommend the documentary The Syndrome available on Amazon Prime, and Frontline episode 16 from season 29 called The Child Cases - but beware, both will leave you utterly gutted by the realization that our criminal injustice system is truly deeply twisted and populated by droves of agenda driven, politically ambitious cops and prosecutors who are too often incapable of accepting death as a natural phenomenon rather than assigning blame and criminality to every tragedy they see.
FYI, I happen to know that despite the overwhelming evidence now undermining the theory of Shaken Baby Syndrome, including the recantations by some of the top pediatric specialists in the country who once promoted it, the National District Attorneys Association is still promoting it and teaching it to prosecutors in their child abuse and homicide prosecutions courses - I know thus because in early 2013 I attended their specialized child abuse/homicide training and was appalled to learn this, and when I raised the issue during a lecture I was shut down - so I walked out at the next break and didn’t complete the course, which I felt I couldn’t trust given their absolute refusal to even discuss the emerging evidence of wrongful convictions in many of these cases.
Many of you likely recall the Matthew Eappen case in Boston wherein UK nanny Louise Woodward was convicted of murder in the death of one of her charges, and the judge controversially reduced the conviction to manslaughter and released her on time served. In that case Barry Scheck presented a terrific defense establishing that Mattie died from a slow bleed after likely falling and bumping his head several days of even a week or more before he became very sick and ultimately died, but the jury bought into the prosecution’s very vehement presentation of Woodward as a spoiled sullen nanny who wanted to party instead of caring for her wards - juries are very susceptible to character assassination and far less so to hard science. I watched that trial pretty exhaustively on Court TV the first semester of my first year of law school, even skipping class to do so - and I recall at the verdict being sick and contemplating dropping out of the law even then.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan