Originally posted by Fisherman
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I'd like to add only this: I used to become quite frustrated and agitated by posts like this one. I expended much energy and many keystrokes arguing against them, saying things like, "Thank God the criminal justice system doesn't work this way!", and pointing out the issues inherent in assuming Lechmere was a psychopath because his actions and likely behavior and demeanor - had he killed Nichols - might indicate that he WAS a psychopath (his interaction with Paul, Mizen, at the inquest, etc.).
Now, I still believe Lechmere didn't kill Nichols, was not Jack the Ripper, and was what I and others have always believed him to be: A witness in the case, a man who found "a woman lying in Buck's Row". But, I will say that I was dead wrong in maintaining that the "criminal justice system doesn't work this way".
Having been involved in an unrelated research project over most of past year, one focused on modern police methods, I am certain that Christer's suspicions around Lechmere would be quite mainstream and fully supported by many in the law enforcement community had these crimes been committed in, say, the past quarter century.
We began by looking at about 700 murder cases. One caveat: NONE of thse cases involved SERIAL murder. But, as I said, this was about the investigations, legal processes, etc. Now, The overwhelming majority of those cases were "solved" almost immediately. The killer committed suicide or was otherwise killed, or was immediately arrested, within hour or days, caught in act, identified by multiple eye witnesses, caught on camera, etc. The killer left behind a figurative truckload of physical evidence, DNA, fibers, the victims blood on their person, in their home... you get the idea. Of these, just under fifty cases fell out from over the past twenty-five years from across the United States and Canada. These cases left law enforcement somewhat stumped, with no immediate (usually fewer than 90 days) arrests.
It's clear that detectives/police don't like to be stumped. So, for the most part, with a few notable exceptions, they don't stay that way for long... for better or worse. Circumstantial cases are then built around theories that are, sometimes, at least in my view, FAR LESS credible than the one Christer has presented around Lechmere. And in the VAST majority of those cases the accused was convicted, jailed, sometimes executed.
So, my views with respect to Lechmere as the Ripper have not changed. But, my outrage or frustration or whatever you want to call it... about the theory itself has been muted because I was, frankly, largely ignorant as to how modern law enforcement (and then prosecution and the courts) conduct their business in "hard to solve" murder investigations.
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