The way I heard the story, defense counsel was taking a terrible beating. He’d been around the block enough to know going in he was trying to empty a lake with a teacup, but the fact had been even worse than the contemplation. He was getting well and truly hammered.

It was a no-body murder case, and in 1971, those could be tough for the prosecution.[1] But this time their lack of a body was a speed bump; they had everything else. Means, motive, opportunity  an unlikeable defendant, they had all of that in spades.