Will the Real Daniel Kretchmer Please Stand Up?

I'm still in Utah and will remain here for another fifty-seven hours or so. I will be here on Valentine's Day. The local lore is that polygamist Danny or Daniel (or some say Stanley) Kretchmer comes down from the hills during the night on Valentine's Day to take a new young bride. The legend is less than clear as to whether "during the night on Valentine's Day" means the wee a.m. hours of February 14 or the remaining evening hours before midnight. Since I will be here on both days, Ill be cautious even though I think the legend is nothing more than some local Mormon's vanilla extract-induced hallucination.  Mormons are prone to local folk tales, with their talk of The Three Nephites and other stories. Come to think of it, perhaps Kretchmer is one of The Three Nephites.

At the same time, I'm not going to do anything totally stupid. Alyssa's friends wanted to do the six p.m. until midnight ski run on the night of Valentine's Day. Alyssa can do what she wants, but I'm not participating. I don't honestly believe Danny or Stanley Kretchmer or whatever his name is or was really is lurking, but it's not beyond possibility that some other perv could be hiding in the shadows, looking for an under-aged girl to nab. While I'm not technically under-aged, no one would ever believe such to be the case from looking at me.

Uncle Scott was teasing both Alyssa and me about Martin MacNeill and how he supposedly had an escape from prison planned for this week. Martin MacNeill was a local doctor who was convicted of drugging his wife and drowning her in a bathtub. His home was only about 1.5 miles from here. After I had my last bad dream, Scott stopped all the Martin MacNeill talk. My money is on the theory that Scott's wife threatened to withhold consortium if he did not cease and desist. Regardless, I'm not hearing anything more about Martin MacNeill, though the damage has already been done.  For the record, I'm not in any way attempting to make light of the tragic fate of the late Michele MacNeill, who appears to have been a lovely person.

I have two more days to snowboard, after which it's back to the old grind, though it's not all that much of a grind. Courses that I'm technically taking this quarter were deferred from earlier quarters, so I've already done all the work. My labor-intensive days consist of sitting on the beach.  I worked very hard in earlier quarters, though, and will do so in medical school as well, and have earned the right to be a lady of leisure.

I'm not sure which of these images most closely aligns with my perception of the Pleasant Grove Polygamist, but if there ever were such a character, he'd almost have to be one of the three.

MacNeill Found Guilty

To the surprise of few people who have spent substantial time in Utah County, Martin MacNeill was convicted of murdering his late wife. He was also found guilty of obstruction of justice. I haven't read anything truly edifying about the obstruction charges, so I'm not certain what that's all about. I would like to text my pseudoaunt, the attorney, to ask her about the obstruction charges, but her husband works a 24-hour shift stating early in the morning, so I don't want to text her in case her cell phone is in their bedroom, because the beep might wake him.

My pseudoaunt is the one who told me MacNeill would be found guilty. Her thoughts pertaining to the matter are that MacNeill is totally guilty but she personally didn't think the evidence to convict was there. After spending several years at BYU, she believes that the nature of Mormonism is such that it lends itself to leading its adherents to form conclusions based on what they feel as opposed to based on facts and logic. (If you're LDS, please don't take offense. These are her beliefs and not necessarily mine.
The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints is far from the only faith-based church on the planet.) She feels that the sum of the teachings of most religions, including her own Roman Catholic Church, wouldn't exactly hold up to scientific inquiry, but that the retold story of the origins of the LDS church as still maintained by by its present leaders stretches the limits of credulity beyond what a critical thinker could persuade himself or herself to believe. (Again, those are her beliefs. I don't necessarily share her sentiments 100 %.) Anyway, she feels that believing in a religion that grossly defies logic (her words, not mine) because of feelings lends itself to reaching other conclusions based more on feelings than on factual information. Hence, by her way of thinking, a practicing Mormon might be able to ignore a judge's directive to render a verdict based solely on evidence, and might be able, more easily than the average person, to make a decision based on gut feelings.

My pseudoaunt lived in Utah County within ten miles of Martin MacNeill. Her mother- and father-in-law lived much closer, as did her brother- and sister-in-law. Her brother-in-law and his wife lived very close. The brother-in-law may or may not have been privy to direct knowledge pertaining to the case. I'm not permitted to discuss that here, and the brother-in-law, whom I know personally and well, has never talked either to my pseudoaunt or to me about the situation. The connection just makes the situation a little closer to home than it would otherwise be.

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about having a guilty person convicted for the wrong reason. To me it's a little like O. J. and the conviction for robbery or whatever charges he was convicted of in the theft by force of the sports memorabilia. Many people felt that he wasn't necessarily all that guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted in Las Vegas, but that the conviction got an obviously guilty-of-murder person off the streets even if it was for a different crime. I don't know. For one thing, I'm not thoroughly convinced he was not guilty as chargbed and convicted of the Vegas crimes. Regardless, though, I suppose I feel just a bit safer with him locked up.

The MacNeill case feels similar to me even though it's not a perfect analogy. I have no doubt that Martin MacNeill is guilty. Even discounting the testimony of the jailhouse informants, entirely too many coincidences exist. Macneill is, depending upon how one views it, either one of the luckiest or unluckiest men in the world, second only to Scott Peterson.

On the other hand, I'm not certain that, had I been on the jury, I could have looked at the evidence as presented and voted to convict based solely on the evidence. MacNeill had a really good attorney, who drilled home very effectively that there was no consensus concerning Michele MacNeill's cause of death, and without a cause of death, there was no murder. Legally speaking, I suspect he was correct. Still, on the nights I slept in that neighborhood, I lost a considerable amount of sleep because of the feeling I had that a murderer was entirely too close to me for comfort. I'll sleep a great deal more soundly if I ever spend another night there.

My recital will being in exactly one week, fifteen hours, and one minute,not that I'm counting.

Martin MacNeill & My Senior Recital : Two Unrelated Obsessions

I'm trying not to obsess on the topic, but for the record it's about 8.75 days until my senior piano recital.

Both the state and the defense have rested in Martin MacNeill's trial. I will be surprised if the jury does not vote to convict. My pseudoaunt opined that the overwhelmingly Mormon population comprise the jury, and Mormons have been conditioned to make decisions based on feeling over cold, hard evidence.

In many cases a defendant may walk or at least a jury may hang even when everyone on the jury feels the defendant is guilty because the jury will not vote to convict when sufficient evidence hasn't been presented. This is as it should be. In Utah, however, it's easier to get a conviction without overwhelming evidence when the consensus is guilt. Additionally, my pseudoaunt thinks that the men will dominate jury deliberations in this case, and that the males on the jury appeared to be favoring the prosecutions.

My pseudoaunt thinks MacNeill is guilty as sin, but she thinks that based on the evidence, she would vote to acquit. She thinks the medical examiners' listed causes of death are too damning to the prosecuation. I do not agree with her, but I admit that as a practicing attorney she has exponentially more legal knowledge than I have.

This blog is ended. go now in peace to love and serve the Lord and to render verdicts according to the judge's instructions if you're ever on a jury.

Pleasant Grove [Accused] Killer

Gypsy Jillian Willis

Since I'm stuck at home recovering from pneumonia this week, and I've finished all major homework and cannot practice either instrument until six days from now, I've been following the Martin MacNeill trial. I'm something of a true crime buff anyway, but this trial is a bit more personal. I've spent considerable time [ but no nights because that's where I draw the line} in the neighborhood where it happened. I worked one day as a paralegal in the Utah County [Provo] courthouse, but in a different division and courtroom. Even if i didn't care about the case my interest would be piqued, but in this particular case I have a morbid interest.

When I was first in the area the summer after the Dr. Martin MacNeill's late wife was found lifeless in the bathtube of the master bedroom suite, no one told me about the incident. Eventually I learned of it and started asking questions. Even though no charges were even pending and as far as the authorities were concerned nothing was even suspicious in the woman's death at that point, neighbors were already talking, and my ears are always open. No one had any great answers for my questions, which heightened my sense of forbiding.

I've seen Dr. McNeill. I've seen Gypsy Jillian Willis, his mistress, who was a witness in the trial today. I've seen miscellaneous family members who shall remain nameless because they never did anything wrong and certainly don't warrant mention in some random blogger's rantings.

Today on the witness stand in the trial, in addition to Gypsy Jillian Willis, were her parents. After they testified on the trial, Dr. and Mrs. Willis answered Vinnie Politan's questions on his Headline News program. I felt incredibly sorry for the couple. They were extremely apologetic regarding their daughter's actions even though nothing she did was their fault in any way. When pressed, they expressed feelings that their daughter was influenced by Dr. MacNeill, although they were quick to state that she was a consenting adult. These people were unusually classy under most difficult and unpleasant circumstances. I really hope that they're allowed to return home to Iowa or wherever it is that they now reside to live their lives in peace. They've been interrupted enough.

EDITED TO ADD ONE OBSERVATION: There seems to be a bit of confusion as to one point. Pundits are bringing up when Gypsy told others that Michele Macneill died. This can be construed in two ways. A) When, according to Gypsy Willis, did Michele MacNeill die? I believe this is the way gypsy Willis' parents understood the question when they answered it. B) On what date, or in what month, did Gyspy Willis actually verbalize to others that Michele MacNeill had died? the pundits ar letting this discrepancy remain unclarified. people are understanding this question in one of the two ways posited here. the two questions are very different. While clearly Gypsy Willis knew exactly when Michele MacNeill died and she was being untruthful if she suggested any date or month other than April of 2007, suggestionsfrom her that the death had happened at an earlier time would have been done to pain herself or Martin macNeill in a more positive light. On the other hand, if she was actually telling people two months prior to Michele MacNeill's death that Michele was dead, it is highly incriminating both to herself and to Martin MacNeill. The two suppositions are entirly different, and the pundits are missing out on this.


I do want to state that the scenic mountain meadow backdrop behind Dr. and Mr. Willis doesn't look much like what I saw outside the Provo courthouse, although I haven't scoped the entire ara looking for angles and scenic views. Maybe that's the real view somewhere out there.

My pseudoaunt and pseudouncle are totally caught up in this case. They lived in a nearby community at the time, and lived in the actual town later. Psedoaunt taught in the city where this took place. Pseudoaunt's first name is Jillian, and the people who work in pseudouncle's hospital have taken to calling her "Gypsy Jillian." (Pseudoaunt is figuratvely telling political correctness to go to hell and is dressing up as a gypsy for Halloween this year. She's going to braid her niece's hair so the niece can be Baby Maria from Greece.) Pseudouncle is constantly switching patients' TVs to Headline News during his workday to catch up on the trial, and pseudoaunt records all the action each day even if she watches it live. God forbid that something momentous might happen that pseudouncle misses.

If I were not possibly still harboring a germ or two, I would go watch the action with pseudoaunt. She has cystic fibrosis, and something like influenza has more serious ramifications for her than it does for most people. My dad says I can go to her house and watch the action with her on Friday if I continue to improve at the rate I've presently improving.

This blog is ended. Go now to love and serve the Lord and to give up soap operas if you are normally so inclined, because the real-live soap opera on Headline News is much more compelling.