"In 1888, at a time when offenders pretending to witnesses were unheard of, Hutchinson could have been quite confident banking on the unlikelihood of the police viewing him as a suspect."
Maybe as a suspect but unless the the police were complete idiots he was a person of interest. Either way, suspect or person of interest, he was going to be questioned and his answers needed to satisfy the police. If not, he could find himself to be considered a suspect.
Even if we accept the premise that offenders pretending to be witnesses was so unheard of that the police never would have dreamed that this person could have been involved in the murder, does that premise have any limitations placed upon it? In other words, if while being interviewed a bloody kidney and knife dropped out of his pocket, would the police simply say "hey George, you dropped this" because he appeared as a witness voluntarily? I think not.
c.d.
Maybe as a suspect but unless the the police were complete idiots he was a person of interest. Either way, suspect or person of interest, he was going to be questioned and his answers needed to satisfy the police. If not, he could find himself to be considered a suspect.
Even if we accept the premise that offenders pretending to be witnesses was so unheard of that the police never would have dreamed that this person could have been involved in the murder, does that premise have any limitations placed upon it? In other words, if while being interviewed a bloody kidney and knife dropped out of his pocket, would the police simply say "hey George, you dropped this" because he appeared as a witness voluntarily? I think not.
c.d.
Comment