time will tell

Joel Patrick Courtney was officially charged with the alleged kidnapping, rape and murder of Brooke Wilberger, who disappeared from Corvallis in May 2004. Horrible acts to be sure, and ones to which he’s no stranger, having been charged and convicted of them in New Mexico. What I find puzzling though is the fact that they haven’t found Wilberger’s remains, if in fact she’s even dead. How can they charge a man with rape and murder without a body? Just because he has a deplorable history of similarly heinous deeds doesn’t mean he’s guilty. What’s more, he’s facing the death penalty if convicted. I am all for punishing guilty criminals to the fullest extent of the law, but pinning bogus charges on a man suspected of a crime with a lack of physical evidence just seems wrong. Most of the court records remain sealed despite the efforts of news agencies, including The Oregonian, that sued unsuccessfully in 2005 to have the records opened. This leads me to believe that we’re missing some relevant information that links Courtney to Wilberger. During the arraignment, Courtney’s attorneys refused to even enter a plea so the judge was forced to plead not guilty on his behalf. The prosecutors are confident but the case against the accused still seems flimsy.