JUDGE GARDNER -- The Verdict

For some reason there always seems to be a lawsuit happening, usually

a murder case, that catches the national interest. The O.J. Simpson case

is, of course, the classic in this field. However, others of lesser

stature have enjoyed this doubtful notoriety.

When I was a Superior Court Judge, I tried one of those cases --

twice. The first trial ended in a hung jury, and while I had very little

to do with that, I received literally bales of mail lambasting me for the

outcome. The public had to have a victim for their disappointment, and I

was handy. Fortunately, there was a second trial.

Henry Ford McCracken was a longtime child molester who escaped any

serious punishment for his misdeeds because of the well-known reluctance

of mothers to let their children testify. However, this time he killed

his victim, and the case against him was iron clad except for one thing:

The body of the child was missing. Not absolutely essential to a trial,

but certainly important.

Sheriff Jim Musick was determined to find the body, and he was able to

figure out how much gasoline McCracken had in his car before and after

the killing. Putting his thumb on the place of the killing, Buena Park,

he drew a circle around that place -- the maximum distance McCracken

could have traveled -- and told his investigators the body was somewhere

within that circle and to go find it.

His investigators fanned out on this seemingly hopeless search, but by

the wildest chance a couple of them stopped at Cook’s Corner in the

foothills of the Santa Ana mountains. Although not particularly hopeful,

they showed everyone there McCracken’s photograph. To their amazement,

the bartender and some of the regulars remembered a man who matched the

photograph. He had stopped thereon the night of the murder to have a

Coke.

That narrowed the search to Live Oak Canyon, though it was still

doubtful that they could find anything. But Joe Sherman, a fire ranger,

did a Daniel Boone job of finding some disturbed leaves, dug down, and

there was the body of the little girl.

The second time McCracken was tired in my court, he received a death

sentence, which was carried out. This was obviously before the present

judicial log jam.

This story raises two questions.

1. Why did McCracken attract national attention? That’s easy.

Television news was just coming into its own, and this new kind of news

media was fighting for its share of interest, which forced competition

with the print media.

2. Why did McCracken stop for a Coke when he had the body of the dead

girl in his car? Because he was stupid, which is true of most criminals.

And that is why the police are able to keep up with the persistence crime

wave.

I’ve never met a successful burglar. Think that one over.

* ROBERT GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge. His

column runs Tuesdays.