I attended every day of the nearly two week long trial of Jackie McCrady for the murder of his wife .... well, I was there every day except the last one when I knew the jury was coming back with a guilty verdict. I didn't want to be there.
At that time I didn't know any of the McCrady's - had never had a conversation with any of them, and had done nothing more than speak to Mr. & Mrs. McCrady in the hallway of the court house. To this day I have never had a conversation with their son Jackie.
Jackie McCrady had been sitting in prison for five years by the time I was actually introduced to his parents. I continued to doubt his guilt and continued to research everything I could find that pertained to his case, and although I had notebooks full of notes that I'd taken during the trial, I would have loved to see the court transcripts.
Little did I know that I was destined to read EVERY piece of paper, every comment that was made by anyone in the case. But I was. It took me a solid month to read it, make notes in the margins in areas that I'd already worked on and saw the incorrectness, but I did read it all, and it was during this process that I ran across something that just infuriated me!
I was actually glad that I had not known about it at the time it happened because [knowing me] I would have ended up in jail for contempt of court!
Tucked into the transcripts of court room testimony I came across a page that contained the information about a meeting that was held in the judges chambers during one of the recesses.
There was a woman who had seen a young woman walking at Civitan Park in Belpre on the morning that Jenifer disappeared. This woman I will call 'Non Witness' because she was never allowed to testify and tell the jury what she had seen ....
Non Witness said she had finished her early morning walk at the park and was preparing to leave when she noticed the other woman .... the woman she believed to be Jenifer McCrady.
Along side of the woman she thought was Jenifer, rode a man on a bicycle. This was unusual since bicycles are not allowed on the walking trails at Civitan Park.
Non Witness said the woman {Jenifer} appeared to be irritated with the man and acted as if she wanted rid of him, but he continued along beside of her.
She described this man as riding a dark colored bicycle; having collar length, shaggy looking hair and a full beard, and wearing a long 'trench type' of coat and a ball/work cap on his head.
I was appalled when I continued reading this information and saw how the prosecuting attorney had actually laughed and made fun of the witness because of her description of this man. .... wearing a winter coat in mid September .... he thought that was ridiculous.
So, the court agreed with the prosecution .... Mrs. Non Witness would not be called. The jury would never hear her testimony .... and by the time it got to me it would be too late for me to do anything about it ..... and so it was.
But, since this is my 'court room' I'm going to tell Mrs. Non Witnesses testimony and I'm going to tell a whole lot more ..... I'm going to tell my readers that this man did exist, and I know exactly who he was [and is].
