UPDATE: Supreme Court upholds Craigslist murder conviction:
Last week the Minnesota State Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction and life sentence of Michael John Anderson. Back in 2007 the then 19-year-old Anderson placed an ad on craigslist advertising for a nanny position that Katherine Ann Olson responded to. Instead of finding a job Ms. Olson found herself on the business end of a .357. Anderson then tried hiding her body in the trunk of her car. Police were able to track Anderson through Katherine’s cell phone records. Last year he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
During the trial Anderson’s defense attorney wanted to use Anderson’s alleged Asperger’s syndrome as a defense. I say alleged not because of the syndrome but alleged because there was no medical evidence that Anderson had it. Again, that’s an insult to people with Asperger’s because with that kind of defense it makes it look like that anyone with Asperger’s is a killer waiting to happen. That is also what the appeal was based on too and luckily the Minnesota Supreme court saw through that defense.