NBC Dateline’s “The Secrets of Cottonwood Creek” Friday
night told the story of who two juries hung on a murder trial in Colorado of
Frederick Mueller for the 2008 death of his wife of 27 years after she fell
into a creek on a winter hike. Typical news
story is here. When is a misstep really an accident? This reminds me of an incident in John Knowles's novel and 1972 film "A Separate Peace", when a teen accidentally injures a rival, who dies later, by jousting a tree limb.
The local sheriff believed that she had been pushed, based
on his own interpretation of the lack of normal blows. Fred would be arrested by Texas Rangers and
brought back to Colorado. After the
first jury hung with 11-1 wanting to acquit, the judge dropped first degree
murder chargers, but a second tril for second degree murder followed in Denver,
in a different venue. This time, more
jurors wanted to convict.
The charges were dropped but the case remains open. He would need to be acquitted to remove the "triple jeopardy." The interviews with the thee adult kids, one
of whom is in the Navy, were interesting.
Wikipedia attribution link for Leadville view I was there in 1973 and then 1994. One scene in my novel happens there, as it is
one of the highest towns in the US, over 10000 feet.
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