Defendant admits murdering Harvey family

Day Three of the murder trail for defendant No. 1, who stands charged with murdering the Harvey family in their home on Jan. 1st, produced some spectacular admissions and key evidence.

To read about it now, go to the Richmond Times-Dispatch coverage (this link has been updated since the original post), which includes what it is calling a blog.

Note: SLANTblog’s readers should know that some of the details presented in court today are more than a little disturbing. So, if you’d rather not have the pictures of the cheerful Harveys -- parents and two daughters -- in their final minutes in your head, don’t click on the RT-D link above, skip it. Also be warned that the stories in the morning newspaper are going to have the same material in them. You also may want to think about how you want your kids to find this stuff out, too.

Thus, for readers who’d like to know the gist of what happened today in court, without having to read the gory full account, here is SLANTblog’s condensed G-rated version of today’s most important revelations:

• DNA from Harvey family members was found on the murder weapons discovered in their home and on defendant No. 1’s boots when he was caught in Philadelphia.
  

• A written statement from defendant No. 1 was read aloud. In it he said the Harvey's house was chosen randomly, chiefly because the front door was open. He admitted to doing the bloody deeds while his partner-in-crime searched the house for things to steal; he admitted to taking Bryan Harvey’s wedding ring.

Note: SLANTblog will continue to post both its toned down gist of the news and links to the trial coverage. But I still will not write the names of the two defendants, who have been charged with the murders. In this space they will be called defendant No. 1, or defendant No. 2, as I want no part of making their names well-known.

For plenty of background on this story click here.