Arts: Errol Morris v. Janet Malcolm

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Interrogation Errol Morris v. Janet Malcolm The documentary filmmaker takes on the Jeffrey MacDonald murder case. By Emily Bazelon Posted Thursday, Sep 13, 2012, at 03:23 PM ET With his harrowing, one-of-a-kind 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line, the filmmaker Errol Morris exonerated a man convicted of murder. Morris, who'd formerly worked as a detective, didn't believe that Randall Dale Adams had committed the crime for which he was in prison for life. On film, he proved Adams' innocence, wringing a confession—on camera—out of the real killer. Adams was released from prison a year later. Soon afterward Morris became intrigued by another, already notorious murder case, the subject of his new book, A Wilderness of Error. On the night of Feb. 17, 1970, Colette MacDonald and her young daughters, Kimberly and Kristen, were stabbed over and over again in their home in Fort Bragg, N.C. The police found MacDonald's husband, Green Beret doctor Jeffrey MacDonald, in the living room lapsing in and out of consciousness. He had stab wounds in the stomach and chest and a collapsed lung. The word PIG had been written in blood on the headboard of the bed he shared with his wife. MacDonald told military police that he'd gone to sleep on the living room couch, woken to the screams of his wife, and saw figures standing at the end of the couch. He ended up struggling with three men who looked like hippies while a woman hovered nearby, holding a candle. He heard her chant, "Kill the pigs. Acid's groovy." Morris thinks that the military investigators quickly decided they didn't believe MacDonald's ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Embassy Row The AP Solves the Mystery of the Man Behind Innocence of Muslims NFL 2012	Advertisement
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