CATCH AND RELEASE, by Mark ThielmanI let a murderer go today.
I knew Edmonds was guilty, but the jury saw the case differently. Maybe the problem lay with the proof that they couldn’t see. They didn’t see the smirk, that small, irritating, self-satisfied smile he flashed during the pre-trial hearings, the confidently upturned corners of his mouth that he wore like a designer suit whenever he walked into court. Thomas Edmonds’ smug look seared itself into my brain, as I watched him sit through testimony, implacably calm, his face unshadowed by doubt while the witnesses testified.
On breaks, he’d turn to his defense lawyer and chat, shoot the bull about the weather, like a guy locked up should have any right to an opinion about the outside temperature. Other times, I’d hear him chuckle as
