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The prosecution's case was further weakened by medical testimony. Psychiatrists called by both the prosecution and the defense said that MacDonald seemed entirely normal; the defense psychiatrist added that MacDonald appeared incapable of committing so atrocious a trio of murders. Also, five of six doctors who testified said that at least one of MacDonald's wounds could easily have been fatal and that not even a physician could have inflicted it on himself safely.
Presenting its own case, the defense introduced a witness whose testimony suggested the identity of the woman Mac-Donald claimed to have seen. Though she had already been investigated and dismissed as a suspect by civilian authorities. Colonel Warren Rock, the infantry officer who presided at the hearing, recommended that she be reinvestigated. As for the evidence against MacDonald, Rock concluded in his confidential report that all charges be dropped because they "are not true." His superior, Major General Edward Flanagan, then quashed the case for "lack of sufficient evidence."
By last fall, the Army was more than happy to give MacDonald an honorable discharge when he requested it. But neither the captain nor his father-in-law, Alfred Kassab, was satisfied. Kassab has mounted a petition campaign to members of Congress and others to prompt a new effort to find the intruders he believes killed his daughter and grandchildren. "From now on," says MacDonald, "I'll be thought of as the man who got away with murder." Perhaps not. Responding to a variety of accusations about the case, the Army has said that it will at last investigate the manner in which the prosecution and the investigators handled matters. Two weeks ago, three CID agents from Washington arrived at Fort Bragg to begin work. Jeffrey MacDonald can only hope that they are more competent than those who first looked into his case.