but what about those ghastly lacerations on kathleen s head which the state s medical examiner attributed to a beating? defense attorney rudolf notes what he didn t find. though the cuts were deep, there were no skull or bone fractures. there was absolutely no fractures anywhere. no fractures to her fingers, to her arms to her skull. and there was absolutely no injury to the brain. and that s just almost an impossibility if what you re doing is beating somebody with a metal object. and for a final exclamation point, the defense had a perry mason moment up its sleeve. the prosecution had insisted throughout the murder weapon used to bludgeon kathleen peterson was the fireplace blowpoke, only police never found it. almost three months into the trial, one of michael s sons made a stunning discovery in the peterson s basement. he immediately runs up to margaret who was at the house and said, margaret, i think i i i think i found the
north carolina s nash correctional institution isn t one of them. but that s where michael peterson, father, novelist and wife-killer, according to a jury of his peers, was incarcerated. just another number in a cell block with other felons. no parole, life without parole. and they meant it, too. they did. and they did everything they could to make that happen. after he d exhausted his appeals, it looked as though prison was where he would stay. but out in nevada, michael has a look-a-like younger brother, bill peterson, who s also an attorney. did the lawyer in you say, that s it. my no. brother s done? that s when the really hard work started. we were out of money, out of lawyers. and, so, that s when the burden fell on me and whoever would help me. bill peterson spent hours in the durham county courthouse combing though the district attorney s piled high boxes of evidence. was there something that had been overlooked? and he wasn t the only supporter nursing al
the back stairs, the prosecution called the state s blood pattern expert, duane deaver. he told the jury with certainty that kathleen peterson had been beaten to death. he testified the droplet pattern high up the walls was just what you d expect to see with a weapon rising, striking, and casting off blood with each new blow. and i believe there is a minimum of four blows that have occurred in this, uh in this scene. what s more, deaver testified, this blood stain was found on the inside of peterson s shorts. he d done tests that he says proved that the only way it could have gotten there was if peterson had been standing over his wife, beating her. and the individual wearing these pants at time of that impact was in close proximity to the source of blood when it was impacted. i remember the jurors were captivated by his testimony. um, and it all seemed to make perfect sense. then there was all that dried blood the emts noticed around
even worse. there was kathleen s daughter, caitlin, across the room in the prosecution s camp. and behind him the whole time, his girls, margaret and martha. they were sisters. they loved one another. they helped one another. and that s been the biggest, to me, the sadness that everything that kathleen wanted to make happen and did happen as far as the family was torn asunder. michael s story is one he says those closest to him have known for years. that information a story his lawyers were about to present to the jury. and they had an ace up their sleeve, a moment straight out of perry mason. one that would leave mouths agape in the courtroom. that s a blow poke isn t it? coming up the alleged murder weapon found.
in kathleen peterson s hand. tangled in the hair were not one but two minute bird feathers. a surprise he says to the detectives and an assistant da watching in the room. i think they were surprised because of the lab had not found the second feather. bill peterson was interested in the results, too. a review of the slides showed what? traces of bird feather? yes. yes. exactly right. in her hair. another very, very compelling fact. what was most compelling about the idea that an owl attacked kathleen, the supporters thought, was how it accounted for the distinctive lacerations on her scalp. had the three main talons of an owl, like these, caused this bleeding head wound when it swooped down? symmetrical tears. we had an ornithologist who said thyself said these tears are consistent with an owl claw. you think of the characteristic trident like talon claws? yes, and as we all know scalp wounds cause plenty of bleeding.