Maurice Shema

Greg can say, sure, the fibers match because you guys planted them there.

He can accuse the cops of taking the fibers from David Wood's apartment and placing them at the crime scene.

Far-fetched?

Maybe.

But Greg points out that the crime scene was left unsecured for nine days.

And also, the police found a lot of fibers in big clumps.

Even the prosecution's own expert witness said that was a little strange.

This theory is juicier, but also riskier.

The legal filing is going to go to judges who are predisposed to think Greg might be full of it and take all of his other arguments less seriously.

On the way out of the courthouse, Greg says he wants to grab one more thing from a clerk.

He asks for any and all criminal records related to a guy named Michael Plyler.

This is a new name to me.

It wasn't on the El Paso PD's list of 36 suspects.

But the other night, Greg came across Plyler's name in old state records, along with a picture of a truck, which looked a lot like David Wood's truck.

So Greg wondered, could this all be a case of mistaken identity?

He wants to look through Plyler's criminal files to see if there's anything in there that might tie him to the case beyond the truck.

Like if he went by the nickname Skeeter.

This depends on believing David Wood about the nickname, which Greg does.

But either way, this Plyler deep dive seems to me like a real long shot.

And it reminds me of a criticism I've heard a lot, mostly from prosecutors and judges.