Tuesday

The Comic Book Murder - Prosecutor Steve Kaplan Convicts Michael George After Miraculously Finding a Lost Note in The Cold Case File!

If it takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man, can we therefore consider Steve Kaplan of the Macomb County Cold Case Unit to be one of the greats? I believe so. Indeed, it takes art, tenacity, and skill to generate the credible witness testimony necessary to convict an accused "wife killer" after a full 17 years of peace and silence--not to mention the incredible and lucky miracle of finding a crucial, pivotal, personal note concerning THE NEW key witness jotted down by the homicide detective 17 years ago and then mysteriously forgotten and neglected till our hero Steve Kaplan looked in the case file box and just saw it sitting there.

Now we got that wife killing bastard! he must have shouted.

Thank God that you found that overlooked and forgotten note that might have turned the case around 17 years ago, eh Steve? Thank God it was just sitting around, plain as day and waiting for you to find it, eh Steve? What luck! I mean, if not for that homicide detective being so inexplicably careless 17 years ago, you might not be such a big shot now, a real celeb after appearing on television and posturing for the camera, looking all righteous and wrathful! What a career-boosting miracle for you, Steve Kaplan. Will you be running for office any time soon?

Ahhhh, the mystery of fate!

Because of that note, that terrible wife killer, Michael George, is finally behind bars after 17 years of serving a peaceful and productive life as a businessman, father, husband, and pillar of his small community. The fact that he collapsed and wept at the verdict is only further vindication for you, isn't it? As well as for your bosses, the media, and the idiotic jury enthralled by the theater of court you directed like a true professional. Did you test juror IQs before they took their seats? Did they all score in the low 20 percentile? Whatever. At least they had enough collective brain power to take at face value the witnesses you coached before they took the stand a full 17 years later to accurately recall the wife killer and his wife arguing with each other before the murder. And it didn't matter that the defendant had no history of domestic violence, or any criminal history whatsoever. Because your "witness" recalled some "yelling" from 17 years ago, that was enough to help secure a conviction. After all, what did you term the defendant, "The husband from Hell?" Wasn't that it?

And rumors were started, whispers in the media. That husband from Hell, Michael George, had not even cried at the funeral, not wept a tear as he went about town looking cruel-eyed behind his sunglasses. Isn't that what your minions told everyone? Certainly, every juror knew Michael George had it coming! And now, every gullible spectator watching you perform on television knows he had it coming. It takes skill to manipulate the media into tainting a jury pool to help get a conviction. Is that what you did? Hmmmmm ...

And you claim Michael George, the Comic Book Murder guy, did it for the insurance, and oh, because he wanted a new wife? Well, then why wasn't the policy he took out years before well above the minimum? He only got $130K, Steve. That's a small pot for such grand plans. Why didn't Michael George take out $500K, or more? Isn't that what killers almost always do? Such a modest sum. And if he wanted a new wife, Steve, why didn't he just get a divorce? How does a guy with no mental history, zero criminal or domestic violence background, just wander into his own store one day and savagely shoot his wife in the head? Kinda strange. I mean, he doesn't fit the profile at all. Did the jury consider that?

And why didn't the jury believe his mother and daughter who said he was home when the murder took place? Why? Because of the mysterious note you found! ... The note jotted down by the homicide detective, then immediately forgotten, the note that a witness claimed he called the store and spoke with Michael George when the defendant was supposed to be home sleeping on his couch, as his mother said. Then you wheeled out the witness to tell everyone that the note was true. He had told the homicide detective 17 years ago that he called Michael George and thereby placed the wife killer in the store, thus canceling the wife killer's alibi. Finally, the truth was out. The homicide detective had just forgotten all about it!


But wait ... Did you or Judge James Biernat inform jurors of the notorious unreliability of witnesses, especially when it comes to confirming times? No, don't think so. You wanted them to believe that the key witness, Michael Renaud, could accurately recall the time of a phone call (without any corroborating phone records whatsoever) after 17 years. And it was easy, you had the mysterious note to prove it. Police had jotted down Renaud's claim 17 years ago. The note was proof. It must be a fact. Time for a conviction. Besides, everyone knows that mothers and daughters lie!

A note to Judge Biernat: please explain why you didn't throw this incredible crap out of the court room. Did you actually believe a man should spend the rest of his life in prison based on such flimsy and easily corruptible testimony? Did you actually believe that no forensics were necessary in this case? Did you actually believe police overlooked or lost or forgot the presumably crucial testimony of Renaud written down on a note 17 years ago and then quite suddenly discovered it again just sitting there in the cold case file? Or is it more likely that the note never existed in the first place and was invented at the last minute to help bolster testimony in this flashy Comic Book Murder case destined for a two-hour special on the lynch-mob television channel?



Regardless, the networks reaped the rewards of advertising revenue. At least someone is getting rich due to Michael George's conviction.

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:43 AM

    You will be happy to hear that on September 12,2008 Michael George was granted a new trial by Judge Biernat.For the next 30 years lawyers will be quoting People vs George during any prosecutorial misconduct case.The judge cited at least 10 instances and said that one alone would be grounds for a new trial.He even went as far as to ask them is they ever investigated the two seperate known murders that were turned into the police tipline and they had to answer "no".Did you ever check Michael George's alibi in 1990 or 2007 ? and again the answer was "no".The Attorney General as been requested to investigate the Prosecutor's Office and the Clinton Township Police Dept for withholding evidence.............Support the Innocence Project.There are more innocent people in jail than the public realizes.

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  2. He didn't take the stand because he was quick to tearful break downs? Really?!! Where were his tears when his wife was murdered? Where were his tears at her funeral? He his a "wife murdering bastard."

    Do all husbands increase the insurance policy on the wife before they kill her? Again, really?!!

    When is $100,000 a small amount of money? Besides, the insurance money was just a bonus. He wanted his wife dead. He wanted a new wife. The insurance money helped him start off much better than where he left off.

    I'm just sorry it took 17 years for his 1st wife to get a LITTLE justice.

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  3. Yes, dumbass, 100K is a very small amount of life insurance.

    And he didn't take the stand cause his attorney told him not to--fairly common in this type of trial.

    And I'm sorry you believe everything that television tells you. Or perhaps you are part of Michael George's life and actually attended the funeral?

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  4. Anonymous9:56 PM

    Mike George was revealed as cheating on his wife before they ever opened the comic shop. After that affair was over and Renee began working there, they soon were having an affair.

    Barb George had the higher valued insurance policy then Mike.

    They were well known to have arguments in the store during business hours.

    Mike was well known to many of his customers as being strange at times long before the murder occurred, as well as being one very arrogant S.O.B. who thought the world revolved around him and that all must obey him.

    When the police took Mike to the hospital he was only told that Barb was hurt. Mike then commented that she must have fallen in the back room of the store. He was NEVER TOLD AT THE TIME WHERE BARB WAS FOUND.

    No grief shown when he showed the store to the investigators, no grief shown at the funeral, hid behind sunglasses, flirted with a woman at the funeral.

    Also do a google search for the dateline special about this case, locate their web page that has the crime scene photos. Notice the TOTAL LACK of forced entry into the store (no doors or windows broken) the security back door that needs a key to open from the outside was locked, intact cash register with $700 in it, Barb still had her wallet and jewelry on her when she was found, none of the displays in the store broken into or damaged.

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  5. I'm glad, Anon, that you made this post, because it demonstrates why Michael George should not have been convicted, i.e., it is unwise and immature to convict based on rumor, hearsay, and the word of "witnesses" on matters 17 years old, witnesses who have been coached by a corrupt prosecutor now in trouble. By your standards, anyone can be convicted of anything just so long as enough BS can be generated and repeated till it sounds factual.

    Were you at the funeral? There are alternative explanations for everything you claim. People get morose, cried out so to speak. Oh, and you saw him flirting at the funeral or is that another memory from a reliable witness from 17 years ago?

    I'll stop there because your "evidence" is idiotic and the product of a childish viewpoint on life and justice. And the fact that she was found with valuables points to a perp after comics, not trinkets. And the fact he might have said "she must have fallen in the back room" does not mean he shot her. If anything, it proves he's being honest. If a killer, he would have kept his mouth shut.

    etc etc.

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  6. Anonymous8:44 PM

    wow, great to see the "I have to prove he is innocent" so I can clear my conscience that I supported an asshole killer for 17 years....

    100K was alot of money then and now, in 1990 it was enough to move the store, buy a new car, buy a new house, start a convention, (and considering all his best comics where stolen by the "killer") start a new inventory of great comics...anyone who knew him before and after knows the answer, sure hind-sight is 20/20, but for those of us who NOW have hind-sight we can never put on blinders again....

    it all comes down to one question with all of mike's defense facts as a given....

    a) he loved his wife
    b) he did not kill her
    c) does not know who killed her
    d) killer stole $30,000 worth of comics
    e) he just happened to find love in the arms of renee
    f) he some how took the money from her insurance $100k and $30k from the "stolen" books and decided to go back into business, in the business that got his last wife killed
    g) the real killer is still out there
    h) and he (the real killer) got away with it

    question: WOULD YOU EVER, KNOWING THAT THE REAL KILLER IS STILL OUT THERE, LET YOUR NEW WIFE, WORK ALONE IN THE NEW STORE, EVER???

    if you answer NO then you know he did it, if you answer anything else you are trying to cover for a friend you know had something to do with his murdered first wife, ran off with the young hottie he was screwing on the side, had no concerns about opening a new comic book store because he was the only thing to fear in doing so, and knew that no one would kill his new wife for comics, unless she started to show her age, nag him, and think about divorse!

    Renee worked in the new store alone all the time.

    CASE CLOSED

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  7. Dear Case Closed,

    Since you are probably one of the jury that convicted George (most likely a man) you have no choice but to pretend you know the intimate details of George's life to such degree that you don't need solid police work, forensics, witnesses, or anything else of substance to convict.

    Based on the border-line histrionics you are displaying here, you don't have a shred of real evidence. Ahhh, but you know he "flirted" at the funeral, and left his new wife in the new store alone in another city *every day* for 17 years, and so forth. You have been a total fly on the wall my friend.

    What don't you know about his personal life then?

    You must know what getaway car he used, where he stashed the stolen comics, where he hid the gun, and so forth. Don't you know that? No? ... Why not? You are ominipresent when it comes to everything else. Do you also know how many times Michael George picked his nose during and after the trial?

    Sorry, juror number 9, you don't have a case. Millions of people have affairs and buy health insurance, just like millions of people plant trees and spray bugs on their plants--and some of them are the victim of murders also.

    You have nothing but bitterness, hearsay, BS, and the lack of sense to put them all together to continue to persecute whoever you desire.

    Go find someone who spotted him running out of the store with a gun and the comics and then you got something ... or maybe not. If the "witness" is a friend or yours or Kaplan, he/she can't be trusted.

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  8. The only misconduct Steve Kaplan has been accused of is showing a picture to the jury that Judge Biernat now claims looked like a mug shot. How this escaped the judge and the defense attorney when it happened, I'm not sure. This was hardly Mike Nifong level foul play.

    Judge Biernat is the one who sent this to a jury. I agree the conviction should have been a long shot on this evidence, but Steve Kaplan got it. He did the best job he could with the evidence he had. The paranoia here is remarkable. The judge had full control of the trial; whatever happened then was under his direction. Kaplan just did his job and did it well.

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  9. Drew,

    I respectfully disagree, unless you believe that acting like an unethical sociopath is doing a good job. I won't repeat what I already said in the original post, but I stand by it.

    And my sources tell me Kaplan was/is on the hook for much more than a single photo.

    Liz

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  10. Anonymous2:20 PM

    This guy is sooo guilty...new trial or not, hope he and his family goes bankrupt defending him.

    And although $130K may not be alot of insurance money to most (in 1990dollars), it sure was to this comic book loser who was living in a trailer.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:45 PM

      I agree w/everything Brody says. People are
      sometimes fools. I know and under stand how prosecutors use what ever to get what
      they want. A conviction. Why are they almost, always correct about something.They represent the"Good" against the "evil". This is no accident. Almost always when DNA. Clears a wrongly
      convicted. The prosecution almost always
      tries for an Alford plea. Your admitting to guilt but agreeing to the terms because you
      don't want to chance going back to prison
      after you just proved your innocents. What
      everyone needs to be aware of is this can and occasionally does happen to you. Some
      people do not defend them self well. It's true
      and remember this, never talk to anyone
      other then your attorney. If you lie your a liar
      if the police lie it's ok. It's part of the game.
      They play by a complete different set of rules. And remember this can happen to you. I know someone this did happen to.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous9:25 PM

    I agree w/Brody completely. This could happen to
    you (anyone). I know someone that this did happen
    to. Sometimes it's unbelievable what the prosecution does & gets away with. Be very careful
    Ronnie

    ReplyDelete