Retailer Verdict Rips Through Press

Press coverage of the Michigan trial of prominent Pennsylvania retailer and convention organizer Michael George on charges relating to the murder of his then-wife Barbara at their comic store in 1990 increased from two to three publications covering the ins and outs to 15-20 running news of George's conviction on the murder count and the fraud counts related to reports of stolen comics the prosecutors accused were falsified in order to buttress the idea of a robber's involvement. Most of those sources noted that George broke into tears upon hearing the verdict. I'm not exactly sure but he is either overwhelmingly expected or bound by law to be sentenced to a lifetime in prison without parole.

Although I've yet to see a statement from defense attorney Carl Malinga, a quote in many of the articles from co-counsel Joseph Kosmala indicates an appeal will follow and that that appeal will concentrate on the lack of physical evidence putting George at the scene of the crime. The defense has already asked that the judge set aside the decision of the jury, which they reached late Monday afternoon after approximately a full day in deliberations.

The George case received press in the comics world in part because of his relative high profile among Direct Market retailers, including his co-founding the Pittsburgh Comicon. That show is expected to continue at least this year; no announcement has been made about subsequent shows, which doesn't indicate anything other than it was probably smart to wait until a verdict to engage whatever circumstances were on the table at that time. The case received attention in some of the outside press for its cold case nature (more than 17 years had passed), the fact that there was some local history with some of the counsel involved (the prosecutor was the son of the man who was police chief when the murder took place, co-counsel Malinga and the prosecutor's office had a relationship), and the lurid nature of the case built against George through a large number of witnesses even for this kind of trial.

This article notes that the case has split the extended family, with the now young-adult daughters of Michael and Barbara George believing in their father's innocence and testified on his behalf, while many of Barbara George's relatives were reported to be generally pleased with the trial's outcome.

This is the second cold case trial conviction against a comics retailer in the last half-year. Manchester (UK) area comics retailer turned on-line comics merchant Ronald Castree was convicted in November 2007 of the 1975 murder of Lesley Molseed.
 
posted 10:26 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives