Witness sheds new light on ex-Green Beret case

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Lawyers for a former Green Beret convicted in the 1970 slayings of his wife and daughters, a crime dramatized in the best seller and miniseries "Fatal Vision," say a new witness has come forward and the court should throw out his murder convictions.
A former deputy U.S. marshal now says he heard a defense witness tell a prosecutor she was inside Jeffrey MacDonald's home the night of the killings, according to a motion filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jimmy B. Britt, who was part of the security detail for MacDonald's 1979 trial, says he heard prosecutor James Blackburn tell the witness he would indict her for murder if she told the same story in court.
The witness, Helena Stoeckley, later testified she couldn't remember where she was the night of the slayings.
She had been an early suspect because she fit MacDonald's description of one of the intruders he says attacked his family.
Britt, now 67, said in an affidavit that he kept quiet for more than 25 years out of a sense of duty to people he worked with, but the secret eventually became too much to bear.
Blackburn denies the allegation.
"She never told us she was there," Blackburn told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I never threatened her with murder prosecution."
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