Thoughtprints

The thing is when you do google searches for (to paraphrase) "how to kill my husband and get away with it", it leaves little room for reasonable doubt. Most murder cases are circumstantial, the victim (only witness) is dead. This was a very strong circumstantial case.
I don't feel sorry for her. She murdered someone because she didn't want to share custody or marital assets. She deprived her children of their father. I don't believe that I have ever heard someone say they felt sorry for a father convicted of murdering his wife, but I often hear women say it about the reverse. As if it is a damn shame that a killer was brought to justice. What gives?
Scott Peterson was convicted on much less circumstantial evidence. I was very surprised that he was convicted, even though I thought he was probably guilty. Do you have a view on his conviction?

Hi Mike :) Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts.

Yes, I do have a view on Scott Peterson - I think he's guilty as sin.

I think the reasonable doubt for me with regard to Melanie McGuire is the fact that I don't think you can hack up a person's body and leave not even one speck of DNA behind. Unless, of course, she had help and they cut his body up somewhere else completely. That's always a possibility; many people believe she didn't do it alone.

I asked what you thought of his conviction, not his guilt. I think he probably did it too, but surprised that a jury found enough evidence to convict. There was no "smoking gun" type evidence like McGuire googling How to Murder and so on a week before her husband was murdered.
Do you think McGuire is actually innocent, or that she probably did it but the jury didn't have enough evidence to support conviction?

I think Scott Peterson's verdict was right, and just. There actually were searches found on his computer, Mike. He had searched the tide tables for exactly where she and the baby were later found, plus the fact that he had been "fishing" there, too, was a huge smoking gun in my opinion.

With regard to Melanie, I think she probably did do it, somehow and somewhere else with someone else's help, but I feel there was too much reasonable doubt to convict on 1st degree murder.

Then again, given the two cases and their similarites, perhaps I'm just being contrary. ;)

OK. So, you think she probably did it, but you feel sorry for her? For what, getting caught? I'm at a loss to understand the sympathy for someone who murdered another human being let alone the father of her children. I'll guess from your "guilty as sin" remark that you have not felt sympathy for "poor ole Scott".

I'll ask a direct question. Is this a Sisterhood thing? Is it sad to see a woman pay the price for committing the worse possible degree of domestic violence but "just desserts" when a man (like Scott Peterson) does?
Thanks for your replies, by the way.

No, it's not really sympathy. It's more empathy than anything. That doesn't mean I don't think she was in on it and deserves punishment, but had I been on the jury, I'm not so sure I could have voted guilty to 1st degree murder.

It's perfectly fine that you asked that question, Mike, because I asked it of myself. I am not consciously "siding" with her because she's a woman, but it's entirely possible that it's a subconscious thing. I would hope not, but I'm not foolish enough to believe that I - or any human being - can be 100% impartial.

You're welcome for the replies. :) I enjoy a good dialogue.