MacDonald hearing to begin Monday in North Carolina

Jeffrey MacDonald in 1970 (left) and today (right).

A hearing that could determine whether a former Green Beret gets a new trial more than 40 years after he was convicted of killing his family is beginning in federal court. The hearing is scheduled to begin Monday in Wilmington before U.S. District Court Judge James Fox. Fox will consider two new types of evidence in the case of Jeffrey MacDonald – a case that terrified the nation and was the basis for the Joe McGinnis book “Fatal Vision.” The case hinges on testing the DNA of hair found in the home and a deputy U.S. marshal’s claim that a prosecutor intimidated a witness during the 1979 trial. MacDonald is serving three life sentences for the 1970 murders of his pregnant wife, Colette, and their daughters, Kimberley and Kristen at their base-home at Fort Bragg.