Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

A 1969 tragedy where a Massachusetts home was engulfed in flames in the middle of the night, killing a young mother and five of her children, was then ruled accidental. However, the reappearance of an ex-con at the family grave site on the anniversary of the deaths have authorities investigating into the alleged ‘accidental death’. The ex-con, who at the time of the fire was a teenager living down the street from the home, has now become a person of interest in the tragic death of this family.

Authorities reopened the case in 2010, after the wife of a surviving family member presented to them research which indicates that the ex-con may have had some involvement in the fire. Her findings convinced the family that the tragedy long ago was not an accident.

At approximately 3 a.m. on Sept. 26, 1969, David and Nancy Landers awakened to what they thought was an earthquake. David Landers, three of his children and a cousin managed to escape the the fire which spread through the two story home within minutes. His wife, Nancy Landers and five other children were unable to escape the flames.

Patrick Drum, 34, accused of a double murderer, changed his plea to guilty at a hearing Thursday afternoon at the Clallam County Courthouse. Drum was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing 28-year-old Gary Blanton, and 56-year-old Jerry Ray, both of which were convicted sex offenders. Drum made it very clear that he killed Blanton and Ray because they were sex offenders.

Blanton, 28, was convicted in 2001 as a teenager of third-degree rape, according to the National Sex Offender Registry. Ray was convicted in 2002 of first-degree rape of a child.

Drum offered the guilty plea without any plea deal, said Drum’s court-appointed attorney. Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly affirmed the lack of any plea deal.

One of the most infamous murder trials in modern U.S. history is will be reinvestigated in a courtroom this week.

Jeffrey MacDonald may be getting another chance to try to prove his innocence more than 30 years after being convicted of killing his his pregnant wife, Colette, and their daughters, Kimberley and Kristen. MacDonald is currently serving three life sentences in federal prison.

MacDonald, now 68 and not eligible for parole until 2020, has never wavered from his initial testimony that a group of hippies beat and stabbed to death his pregnant wife and two young daughters in their home on February 17, 1970 while he was at home, sleeping on a couch. When he heard screaming, he awoke to find three men and one woman he described to have been wearing a floppy hat and had blonde hair.

Amy Bishop Anderson, former professor accused of shooting six of her colleagues, three of which were killed, pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted murder charges and agreed to plead guilty to a capital murder charge on September 24 in Madison County Circuit Court. She had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Anderson was a Harvard-trained geneticist and had been denied tenure at the university a few weeks before the shootings on February 12, 2010. Police and people who knew Anderson have described her as being angry over the school’s refusal to grant her tenure, a decision that effectively would have ended her employment in the biology department at the University of Alabama.

Bishop Anderson also has been also charged in Massachusetts with the murder of her brother in 1986. Her brother’s shooting had previously been ruled an accident, but the case was reinvestigated after the Alabama shootings. Anderson, who was 21 at the time of her brothers death, told authorities while her 18-year-old brother was helping her unload a shotgun, it accidentally discharged.

Drew Peterson, a former Chicago-area police sergeant was found guilty of the murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio, who was found dead in her home on March 1, 2004, just weeks before their divorce settlement was to be finalized.

He is now waiting to be sentenced (sometime in November) and could serve up to a maximum of 60-years in jail. The defense will likely file a notice of appeal at the Will County Circuit Court’s Office.

In convicting Drew Peterson, the prosecutors based their arguments largely on circumstantial evidence and hearsay testimony. Hearsay testimony is an out-of-court statement, by a person other than the person testifying at trial, that is being offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. In other words, someone is testifying about what they heard someone else say and the person who actually made the statement is not in court to testify. Additionally, the statement is being offered for its truth. More than 30 witnesses testified against Peterson at trial. After 14 hours of deliberation, the jury found Peterson guilty of first-degree murder.