New Evidence

Reopening the Goetz case

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Goetz's lawyers called the reopening of the case a "judicial lynching." Says Joseph Kelner: "Mr. Morgenthau has been highly pressured by politicians who see gain in this for themselves. If he has a new witness, you have to wonder why they pop up now." Arguing that there is a tacit conspiracy among officials to convict his client in the court of public opinion, Kelner cites the decision this month to release a brooding confession Goetz made when he surrendered at a Concord, N.H., police station nine days after the shootings. "He's being turned from a crime victim into a criminal," says Kelner. Goetz, who was out of town on a business trip to South Carolina and Kentucky, reacted to his changed circumstances with his familiar mask of stoic calm. Said he: "If that's what they want, another grand jury, well it's O.K. with me."

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