Things aren't always what they seem.

My father said to the jury as he approached the lectern,

he then introduced Anthony Garcia to the jury.

Dr. Garcia, he called him.

And then he said something that made my heart stop for just a moment.

The evidence will conclusively establish that he is not guilty.

Not only not guilty, he is innocent. That's a bold claim to make in an opening statement.

Not guilty is a legal finding. It means the state hasn't proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Innocent is something more.

It means he didn't do it.

My father was staking out a position,

and he was doing it intentionally.

He wanted the jury to understand

that we weren't just going to poke holes in the state's case.

We believed our client didn't do this.

My father described the state's case as a loosely woven tapestry of circumstantial evidence. He told the jury that if they pulled on just a few

of those threads, the whole thing would unravel right in front of them. He challenged them directly. You won't find one witness

that identified Dr. Garcia near the Hunter House, he said, and I'll be very surprised if a witness

gets on the stand and identifies him in the courtroom. What they have is a long list of

circumstantial evidence which Brenda Beatle happily put out.

But things aren't always as they seem. And then my father did something that I know caught the

prosecution off guard. He told the jury about Joy Blanchard. Regrettably, I will have to present

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