Spoiler Alert! Spoilers for “The Staircase” ahead.
Chapter 3: A Striking Coincidence
Lightning Never Strikes Twice… Or Does it?
In 1985, Liz Ratliff, a friend of Michael and his first wife, Patti, died in Germany from a cerebral hemorrhage. Her nanny found her in the morning, lying at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor. Her two children, Margaret and Martha, were asleep upstairs.
This became the linchpin for the prosecution’s theory that Michael had murdered Liz Ratliff as well as Kathleen Peterson. Although the German police, a German doctor, the United States Army military police, and an autopsy had all concluded that Liz had died of natural causes, the fact that Michael had dropped her off at her house the night before, coupled with the fact her body was found by the nanny at the foot of a set of stairs, was enough for the prosecution to seek to exhume Liz’s body for another autopsy.
Logically, the prosecution’s theory made no sense. There was no evidence that Liz had been murdered. Even if she had, there was no evidence that Michael was responsible. He was asleep at his house, with Patti, when Liz’s body was found by the nanny. There was no motive, and there was no evidence that Liz had been anything other than Patti’s best friend (although the prosecution conducted DNA testing during the trial to try to prove that Michael was Margaret and/or Martha’s biological father. The tests proved he wasn’t).
Nor was there any financial benefit to Michael from Liz’s death. To the contrary, Liz had asked Patti and Michael to be her children’s guardians if anything ever happened to her, since her husband had died shortly before in a plane crash. They had taken Margaret and Martha into their home and raised them with their own two children, Clayton and Todd. Even after Michael and Patti divorced, and Michael remarried, the girls became part of his blended family with Kathleen.
So, the theory boiled down to a classic case of circular reasoning. According to the prosecution,
the fact that Michael had allegedly murdered Kathleen on a staircase was evidence that he had also murdered Liz on a staircase. And the fact that he had murdered Liz on a staircase was evidence that he had also murdered Kathleen on a staircase. Pursuant to this theory, Michael had discovered a method to murder women on stairways, spared his wife Patti during their divorce proceedings, but struck again 17 years later, out of the blue, to do away with Kathleen. Stripped to its essentials the theory was almost absurd.
But it had a powerful emotional appeal. Lightning doesn’t strike twice (except, of course, when it does). This was not just a macabre coincidence. It was proof that Michael was not just a murderer, but a serial killer.
We would argue that without independent proof that Michael had murdered Liz, the evidence that Liz had been found dead at the bottom of a staircase was completely irrelevant. And the unfair prejudice was obvious. But we didn’t know how the judge would rule.
So we went to Germany to conduct our own investigation. The result – the only evidence that Michael had anything to do with the death of Liz Ratliff in Germany was that he had allegedly murdered Kathleen 17 years later in a stairway in Durham, North Carolina. There was no other evidence that Liz had been murdered, let alone that Michael had killed her.
But the exhumation went forward anyway. It was clear that this would be a war, and that the prosecution would use any means necessary to win.
I think you are a brillant attorney and you did an excellent job. I could see the pain on your face when you realized in the I believe in Michael Peterson’s home (on his birthday)that talking about Kathleen in the “practical sense of defending your case” was causing pain to Michael. You can see how kind you must be and how much this changed you all by your expression.
I am curious as to why you didn’t pursue the owl theory? If she had fallen outside prior to going inside ie: the pine needles in her hair.. blood outside on door, her footprints in the blood..would’t this also go to help show that a fall was more likely to have occurred once outside and then again inside? She likely slipped in this urnine/blood mix. I mean she had a neck fracture not a skull fracture. She did not seem like a lady that would have owl feathers (not even microscopic ones) on her person. Nor twigs or pine needles in her hair. Some of the hair was removed by the root. Her injuries seemed to me(from what I saw) to be more fall related. The blood splatter, did seem like coughing and aspiration related to bleeding from the head and inhaling it. Also, how genius it was to file the motions before trying to ask for a plea. Wow, just wow. You are an excellent Attorney.
I enjoyed The Staircase very much. I have almost no doubt at all that Michael Peterson is guilty. A striking coincidence that two women in your life fall down the stairs and die? Lots, really lots of blood in both cases? Adopt the two girls? Kathleen had signs of strangulation, crushed thyroid cartilage. An owl? Mr. Peterson enjoys the camera, he is the depiction of a narcissistic psychopath. He made that documental so he could show his side, his twisted side of the story. It is really amazing how he could foul so many people. The children, all of them so weird, excepting Caitlin who after reading the autopsy report could see the other side of her stepfather. A loving couple, Michael and Kathleen? He sleeping with call boys, that was the perfect couple? Oh, come on!
I don’t think we should bring our personal opinions in to it , a case is all about evidence not how strange the family is in one guy’s opinion no this is a court case not a popularity contest we must look at the evidence and consider all possible outcomes I mean maybe someone else killed her on the staircase and left , But to suggest murder without anyone having a clue what kind of weapon can cause such strange injuries without damaging the skull is very unsettling I mean the prosecution is a joke their blood expert was a fraud and a liar so they have done more to help MP than convict him but as for Germany that was a bad idea to bring that case in as they bungled autopsy too and the evidence was later thrown out on appeal no if MP was a murder we cannot judge him on his personality if we judge people on personality we would all be in trouble fact is killing a woman and being a homosexual odd ball writer are not the same thing no what we needed was Colombo on the case
Has anyone noticed how margaret looks like mike, get a dna test on her cause that would if been motive to kill there mom if she wanted to tell his wife the truth!!!!! And motive to kill kathleen, he was pissed brad cancelled kathleen found out maybe threatened to divorce..who knows what but lead to another horrable death.
I just read that the prosecution tested the girls’ DNA, hoping that Michael was the bio father to strengthen their case, but the tests proved that they are not related..