(3 of 3)
The prosecutors say that they will fight to prevent Pancoast's attorneys from turning the defendant's murder trial into an expose of the relationship between Vicki Morgan and Alfred Bloomingdale. There is no evidence of a conspiracy behind Morgan's sad, shabby death. But the prosecution's case against Pancoast is far from ironclad. Beyond his now repudiated confession, there is no hard evidence. A strong motive has not been established, and the investigation of the case was strikingly inept. The police neglected to seal off the scene of the crime and did not recover any fingerprints from the bloodied baseball bat. Nor did the district attorney's office interview a number of material witnesses at the time. Deputy District Attorney Stanley Weisberg lamely explains, "We had other cases more important than this one."
—ByAlessandra Stanley. Reported by Reported by Jonathan Beaty and Steven Holmes/Los Angeles