The Charges and Convictions
Although some of the media reported that I was charged with first degree murder, this was never the case. The actual charge was Felony Homicide, which is defined as an accidental death that occurs during the commission of a felony. Originally the prosecution had linked this charge to their distribution of a Schedule II drug, but they later decided to remove this link.
Rather than convicting me of this charge, the jury soundly rejected it. There was simply no evidence that I had given Marion whatever it was that killed her. I was not even there when she took (or injected) what killed her. The jury obviously believed this, since they rejected the Felony Homicide charge and instead convicted me of Involuntary Manslaughter, a simple negligence charge. Reports on the internet and in local media saying that the jury believed that I gave Marion the fatal dose are simply WRONG.
The attempted sex charges are all based on the testimony of Dr. William Massello, the Assistant Chief Medical Examiner. Dr. Massello testified that the ligature marks from ropes, no matter how tight, would 'disappear in a few minutes on a living person, and since the rope marks were visible in the last five photographs that I took of Marion, she must have been dead at the time.
Think about this. And if you want to verify for yourself that Dr. Massello's idea is absurd, do this experiment. Put a rubber band or piece of rope around your wrist, tightly, and leave it for twenty minutes or so. Then take it off and time how long it takes for the ligature marks to go away. There is some individual variation, but you will find the marks persisting for hours. In my own case I am reminded of just how wrong Dr. Massello is every time I am handcuffed. The marks on my wrists are clearly visible for several hours, and the handcuffs are never really tight like the ropes were on Marion's thighs that afternoon. No, Marion was not dead in those photographs, and Dr. Massello was simply wrong and has been too stubborn to admit it.
When we asked Dr. Massello for the authority for his bizarre theory, he first said "all the textbooks". After I spent considerable time and effort getting every single recent pathology textbook and finding not one word about ligature marks in a living person, I confronted him with this fact. He just blustered "well, it's just common sense!" Unfortunately, common sense was singularly lacking in the prosecution of my case.
In reality, Marion was very much alive in those photos, talking and joking with me, and she was very much alive when I left to go get some dinner. Those photos, those supposedly incriminating photos, are among photos that I voluntarily gave to the police. I never dreamed that a sick fantasy would be built around them.