Circumstantial Evidence

To parents recoiling from the discovery of lice on their child's scalp, the latest word from the medical front offers little comfort.Ordinary head lice may be turning into "super lice," developing immunity to over-the-counter treatments that are parents' chief weapon.The California Department of Health Services warned in a 1996 report that there is "circumstantial evidence" of increased head lice resistance. This could explain why some public health officials are seeing a sharp rise in lice outbreaks.

Lawyers on both sides of the Phylicia Barnes murder trial acknowledged the circumstantial evidence against Michael Maurice Johnson in closing arguments Monday. But while defense attorneys described flaws and inconsistencies, prosecutors said the facts point to Johnson as the only reasonable suspect. "It's not one thing," Assistant State's Attorney Lisa Goldberg told jurors. "It's everything. " Jurors began deliberating on those details in the 10th day of the trial, despite a second attempt from defense attorneys to get an early acquittal.

Lawyers on both sides of the Phylicia Barnes murder trial acknowledged the circumstantial evidence against Michael Maurice Johnson in closing arguments Monday. But while defense attorneys described flaws and inconsistencies, prosecutors said the facts point to Johnson as the only reasonable suspect. "It's not one thing," Assistant State's Attorney Lisa Goldberg told jurors. "It's everything. " Jurors began deliberating on those details in the 10th day of the trial, despite a second attempt from defense attorneys to get an early acquittal.

The judge overseeing the Phylicia Barnes murder trial said Friday that prosecutors are proceeding on a circumstantial theory that causes him "great concern," but added that the case should continue and be presented to jurors. Circuit Judge Alfred Nance's comments came after prosecutors rested their case and the defense moved for the acquittal of Michael Maurice Johnson. Johnson is charged with one count of first-degree murder, and defense attorney Mary Lloyd said prosecutors cannot prove that he planned to kill Phylicia.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The prosecution will tell jurors Scott Peterson is a manipulative, selfish, callous man who murdered his wife and their unborn child and destroyed the lives of so many others. But even that might not convince the jury he should be put to death. Legal experts say most California juries facing this choice are increasingly deciding to let the killer live. The decision for the Peterson jury is made that much more difficult by the factors before them: Peterson had no criminal record, no history of violence, and was convicted on circumstantial evidence.

COLLEGE PARK -- Raymond A. Zilinskas vividly recalls that hot June morning when he sat in a school bus loaded with chemists and biologists as they rolled down a desolate highway, through the sandy wasteland west of Baghdad."

On the Other Voices page today we carry an article which has created a sensation -- the disclosure, first published on Monday in the New York Times, of a pattern of events suggesting that Reagan-Bush campaign operatives in 1980 cut a cynical deal with the Iranians to secretly supply weapons to the Tehran regime if the 52 American hostages then being held were not released until after the presidential election.The author, a highly respected figure in national security matters who began his service in the White House during the Ford presidency, does not claim he has found a "smoking gun," but the circumstantial evidence is substantial -- especially when added to the unequivocal assertion of Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, the Iranian prime minister during most of the 1979-80 hostage crisis who now lives in exile in Paris -- that such a deal was made.

PHOENIX -- O. J. Simpson has already had a trial -- of sorts -- in Phoenix. The verdict was "not guilty."Mock jurors selected by a consulting firm -- apparently at the behest of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office -- heard key details of the case against Mr. Simpson last month at a Phoenix hotel.With prosecutor Marcia Clark reportedly monitoring the proceedings from the next room, the majority of the 17 men and women concluded that the circumstantial evidence against Mr. Simpson wasn't enough to convict him of killing his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald L. Goldman.

While her older sister watched, an 8-year-old Brooklyn Park girl on her way to the store was snatched from a street corner, pulled into a truck and driven away. Later, the driver molested her and dumped her in Arbutus.That abduction and assault happened in March 1987. Three years later, the police arrested a suspect.Now a county Circuit Court jury is grappling with the question: Was Jeffrey Meredith Chaney the kidnapper?The jury, which began deliberating yesterday afternoon after 2 days of testimony, was told no one is disputing that the girl was sexually assaulted.

As a prosecutor for the Los Angeles District Attorney's office for eight years, Vincent Bugliosi tried nearly 1,000 felony and misdemeanor cases, losing just one of his 106 felony jury trials. His most famous was the Charles Manson case, which became the basis of his best-selling book "Helter Skelter" and the 1976 TV movie of the same name.The new NBC thriller, "Till Death Us Do Part," (tonight at 9 on Channel 2) is adapted from Mr. Bugliosi's 1978 account of a controversial 1967 murder case in which he found himself pitted against Alan Palliko (played by Treat Williams)

A Baltimore County jury concluded Monday that Frederick A. Christian killed his girlfriend — the mother of their 2-year-old child — in November 2009 and that he used a gun to do so, even though the weapon was never found and, prosecutors conceded, much of the evidence against him was circumstantial. Testimony in Christian's trial, which lasted more than a week, showed that the body of 23-year-old Jerryell Myesha Foster was dumped near a highway in Virginia, where it was found several months after she disappeared from the apartment in Cockeysville she had shared with the defendant and their daughter.

Bruce E. Ivins may not have been the anthrax killer, but scientific, postal and investigative evidence painstakingly compiled by federal agents and released yesterday points strongly to his guilt, as declared by the FBI. The case, detailed by prosecutors and investigators, is circumstantial - there are no witnesses or incriminating statements about the attack that killed five people and terrorized the nation in 2001. But it presents a plausible portrait of Mr. Ivins as the mastermind and sole perpetrator of the first bioterrorist attack in the United States . Mr. Ivins' suicide last week prevents a conclusive resolution of the 7-year-old case.

As expected, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's concerns over Spygate were not allayed by his conversation with ex-New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh. To the contrary, Specter was moved to call for an independent investigation. If you read the full text of Specter's "floor statement" on the subject, he makes what some might consider a pretty strong prima-facie case for such an inquiry based on circumstantial evidence -- for example, anecdotal observations that link rule-breaking videotaping with subsequent improved Patriots performances, and inconsistencies in the NFL's own inquiry and disclosures.

MIAMI -- More than half a century after a Christmas Day explosion killed a black activist couple, Florida prosecutors have accused four Ku Klux Klan members of the long-unsolved crime. The four Klan members, who are all dead, are accused of planting the bomb at the home of Harry T. and Harriette Moore, the original architects of the state's civil rights movement, teachers and quiet leaders who fought against lynchings and police brutality. They were killed nearly 55 years ago, on their 25th wedding anniversary, becoming two of the country's early civil rights martyrs.

Defense attorneys for Duke University lacrosse players implicated in the alleged rape of a 27-year-old stripper said yesterday that results of DNA testing failed to link the players with any sexual assault. "No DNA material from any young man was present on the body of this complaining woman," said defense attorney Wade Smith of the results that were delivered by the North Carolina state crime lab to local police and prosecutors yesterday. Prosecutor Mike Nifong said that he still has faith in the accuser's version of events and that the investigation will continue, according to The Raleigh News & Observer.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The prosecution will tell jurors Scott Peterson is a manipulative, selfish, callous man who murdered his wife and their unborn child and destroyed the lives of so many others. But even that might not convince the jury he should be put to death. Legal experts say most California juries facing this choice are increasingly deciding to let the killer live. The decision for the Peterson jury is made that much more difficult by the factors before them: Peterson had no criminal record, no history of violence, and was convicted on circumstantial evidence.

The Dundalk man accused of killing two prostitutes and dumping their naked bodies on city streets will testify today, the only defense witness expected in a case built largely on circumstantial evidence. John Patrick Garcia, 36, of the 7400 block of Alvah Ave. is on trial in Baltimore Circuit Court in the strangulation of Melody Brock, 33, in April 2002 and Danielle Fell, 18, a month later. Brock's body was found propped against a dirt hill in the 2200 block of Newkirk St. Fell's body was sprawled over a curb in the 1300 block of Baylis St. If convicted, Garcia could be sentenced to life without parole.

Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. yesterday canceled the drug trial of Kristie Ann Rheubottom after a prosecutor and defense attorney agreed that the circumstantial evidence in the case might not be strong enough for a conviction.Mrs. Rheubottom, 22, of Westminster, was scheduled for trial yesterday on cocaine possession and distribution charges related to the conviction of her husband, Noland Maurice Rheubottom, who was sentenced Wednesday in his third drug-dealing case.But Mrs. Rheubottom's case was placed on the court's "stet" docket after defense attorney James S. Salkin cited legal precedents which suggested the prosecution lacked evidence to connect her to drugs and other items found in the couple's apartment.

A Dundalk man was found guilty by a Baltimore jury yesterday of two counts of first-degree murder for killing two prostitutes and could be sentenced to life in prison without parole. John Patrick Garcia, who was portrayed as a serial killer by prosecutors, was convicted of strangling 33-year-old Melody Brock in April 2002 and 18-year- old Danielle Fell a month later and dumping their naked bodies on city streets. Garcia stood motionless, staring at the jury foreman as he read the verdicts.

The Dundalk man accused of killing two prostitutes and dumping their naked bodies on city streets will testify today, the only defense witness expected in a case built largely on circumstantial evidence. John Patrick Garcia, 36, of the 7400 block of Alvah Ave. is on trial in Baltimore Circuit Court in the strangulation of Melody Brock, 33, in April 2002 and Danielle Fell, 18, a month later. Brock's body was found propped against a dirt hill in the 2200 block of Newkirk St. Fell's body was sprawled over a curb in the 1300 block of Baylis St. If convicted, Garcia could be sentenced to life without parole.