We don’t know what happened to Makinzlee Handrahan. We weren’t there. The sum total of what we know, for a fact, on the record, we have reported.
We need to remind ourselves that speculation and rumor count for naught. The process needs to play itself out.
That process started this week, when the attorneys for Tyler Witham-Jordan indicated from the jump they are going to aggressively contest the state’s case against their client.
Defense attorney Jim Howaniec indicated up front the defense’s position is that the lack of a grand jury indictment and the 10-month time period between the alleged crime and the arrest must indicate some sort of flaw in the state’s case.
Howaniec is correct in that the usual course of action in a criminal matter is for a prosecutor to seek an indictment before a grand jury. This procedure is so stacked in the state’s favor, it has been famously said, it would be possible to obtain an indictment against a ham sandwich.
In this case, investigators chose to take a different approach. Investigators based in Augusta have determined a crime has been committed and obtained an arrest warrant. We believe in the process of justice, and hope the coming trial will show merit behind the arrest. Because for citizens of a free country it would be a dangerous world if faceless investigators can arrest a citizen merely on the investigator’s suspicion.
Witham-Jordan’s attorneys have demonstrated a feistiness on their client’s behalf, which all of us can appreciate. We hope they make the state prove everything, inch by inch, brick by brick, beyond a reasonable doubt.
Even more terrible than being accused of committing the crime Witham-Jordan is accused of is being an innocent person convicted of the thing Witham-Jordan is accused of.
That’s why, in the law, technicalities matter. Semantics matter. Those technicalities and the caution tape Witham-Jordan’s attorneys are about to spool out on his behalf are the very things that protect the innocent from the damned.
So we are somewhat cheered it has been a period of time before an arrest. We hope the state’s investigators have used this time to build a case that will withstand the closest scrutiny, and that they have finally made their move with absolute confidence.
We do know this: Many people in the family and the community have been severely impacted by this tragedy. There were five people in that Edgecomb residence Christmas morning. The youngest is a murder victim. Two others aren’t even teenagers yet. We shudder to think of what they might have seen or heard. God only knows what stories they have to tell if and when they are asked to take the stand in the coming months.
That leaves two adults. Both of them know what happened and at least one knows with surety. Now, at least one of them will stand to answer.
