Hello to everyone, and thanks to the good people hosting this forum and allowing me to take part in this discussion. Honestly, I haven't yet read all 752 pages of posts so far, but I really hope some of the more knowlegdeable people and Mr. Carr are still around. A little intro. I'm not a jumper. I'm not a pilot, but it is my life's dream to own a UH-1. What I am is a trial attorney. I have been a prosecutor, I have been a public defender. I have represented clients in every court, state and federal, at every level in the state of Florida, except the US District Court of Appeal. (Technically, they are in Atlanta, so my statement stands.) And of all this in under 6 years. I don't want to sound like an arrogant @sshole, but I know my job, it's all I ever wanted to do. I also love history, and history's mysteries. Since the Grand Duchess Anastasia's body was found recently, that only leaves Jack the Ripper and Dan Cooper for me to focus on. I'll leave the Ripperology to someone else. My approach to the Cooper case is simple, it is the same as any other case I work on. What are the facts, what is the law, what do I need to convince the six-headed monster? In short I care about evidence. What evidence do I have? How persuasive is it? Will I have any problems with admissibility? How can it be used or turned against my theory of the case? And if the evidence doesn't speak for itself, what will an expert witness make of it? And that's why I'm here. I promise I will read through the posts as much as possible so I don't bother asking questions that have already been beaten to death. Also, I promise I will try to be as helpful as I can and answer any questions others pose of me. Beyond that, let me also admit that I have a favorite suspect and that is Kenneth Christiansen. IF, again, IF what I have heard about him is all true, *especially* Tina Mucklow's statements concerning his ID, I would feel anywhere between 60-80% confidence taking him to trial, in a criminal court. Where as most of you already know, the prosecution has both the burden of production and persuasion, "beyond and to the exclusion of any and all reasonable doubt." Before proceeding, a little discourse on evidence. There two kinds of evidence. Direct and circumstantial. Basically, direct evidence is anything that tends to prove a necessary fact needed to establish an element of the offense. Circumstantial evidence requires you to make some logical inference from it to the fact you are trying to prove. Mucklow's ID (even though not 100%) is direct evidence, KC working for airlines, being a paratrooper, etc. is circumstantial evidence. At least in Florida, a conviction where even one of the elements of the offense relies on proof by circumstantial evidence, that cicumstantial evidence must be of a character "so probative in value as to exceed any reasonable hypothesis of evidence." A pretty high burden indeed. Even with all that, I still think I could sell him to a jury as the hijacker. As in any case, I check my instincts with any lay people around me who will listen. So far, everyone who has seen the Christiansen picture compared to the FBI composite *sketches* (plural) has been convinced they are the same person. Remember, a jury is six schlubs off the street too dumb to get off jury duty. If they think the picture is him, you get a conviction. How he did it, how he got away, doesn't really matter so much. But you still have to cover the holes. The money is a major problem. How can you say Christiansen stole the money and spent it on those properties if none of the money ever turned up. I have spoken to many people with banking and banking equipment experience, and even if Cooper did wait until the heat died down, there's no way 9,000 bills got burned by the treasury without one being found. All those serial numbers of destroyed cash are recorded (to the extent possible) to make sure that they have an accurate count of what's in circulation. One very possible way around this is spend it overseas. In many third-world nations, US currency is highly valued, and just might not make it back to the US. So, didn't Christiansen fly overseas to Asia as part of his job with NWA? If so, Asia is a possible money-laundering source. The money that was found on the riverbank, frankly, though, I believe is very, very good evidence that the hijack money (at least the lion's share of it) was never spent. Not because of three bundles found in the same hole, but the fragments found throughout the area. That suggests the whole kaboodle ended up in the drink. How else would it have been so diversely spread? Which leads to what seems to be everybody's pet here, the flightpath. Has anybody come forward with a flightpath that would have explained the money being found where it was? For that matter, how sure is anybody that he jumped when they say he did? I understand it was by the jet correcting itself circa 8:10. But it's my understanding that it was from the stairs being lowered, would the weight of a man falling off the stairs have been noticed in the cabin? If that were true, wouldn't every heavyset person flopping down in the head "genuflect" the plane? Well, I guess that's enough for now, anybody reading this far down has bloodshot enough eyes. Thanks for reading, looking forward to your replies. Thanks, TDG P.S. I always loved "Venus" too, but the Bananarama version. I guess there's just no accounting for taste. "We got 'em and we shot 'em, according to Rule 303." The Breaker
