“That it is better 100 guilty persons should escape than that one innocent person should suffer, is a maxim that has been long and generally approved.” - Benjamin Franklin
Statement of Facts: The Prosecution's Theory of the Case
The prosecution contended that Goldblum, Miller and others participated in the scheme to defraud Wilhelm. Wilhelm became aware of the fraud and aware that Goldblum was a part of it.
Goldlum used Wilhelm’s desperation for recovering the losses to induce Wilhelm in to acting as Goldblum’s torch to burn Goldblum’s Restaurant so that Goldblum could collect insurance benefits.
Finally, after setting the fire for Goldblum and still not recovering his lost money, Wilhelm threatened Miller and Goldblum (either implicitly or explicitly) and was murdered by both Miller and Goldblum to ensure Wilhelm would not disclose the land fraud and/or arson to the authorities. Goldblum did the stabbing of Wilhelm while Miller set up the meeting which ended with the stabbing.
(Note: Miller’s trial was severed from Goldblum’s. Miller was tried after Godlblum was convicted of first degree murder. Miller was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He passed away in June of 2006.)
As to the following points, the prosecution relied exclusively on the completely uncorroborated testimony of Clarence miller;
1. That Goldblum participated in the land fraud scheme.
2. That Wilhelm was goldblum’s torch in the arson:
3. That Goldblum participated in the assault and murder of Wilhelm.
As will be discussed below, the prosecution’s own evidence disproves their theory of the case, and supports Goldblum’s version.