Bent Corner

Pittsburgh Comicon organizer and comic book shop owner Michael George was found guilty of murdering his wife Barbara George in 1990 in the back room of their comic book shop. The jury found him not only guilty of first-degree murder, but insurance fraud.

I’m really kind of surprised by this. I’ve been following the case from the day the news broke that he had been arrested. As I’ve blogged earlier, Micheal used to own the comic book shop in nearby Scotland, PA. It’s located in the Chambersburg Mall and it’s where I buy my comics every week.

As more and more came out about the case, I was certain he was guilty.

I then read how his two daughter testified for him.

They were familiar with all the evidence, yet they still firmly believed in their father’s innocence. Who was I to question that? They knew about all the womanizing — and attempted womanizing — while he was married to their mother and all of the other sorted details that came out about their father. They still thought he was innocent of the murder of their mother.

All of the evidence against Michael George was circumstantial. That’s not to say someone cannot be found guilty with only circumstantial evidence. It happens all the time. This just seemed so surreal in the fact that it happened 17 years ago. No new evidence had come up.

Things are not looking good for comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon promoter Michael George.

From this morning’s Detroit Free Press:

Allegations that Michael George cheated on the wife he is accused of killing will be allowed in his upcoming trial, a Macomb County Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday.

George, 47, is to go on trial Feb. 26 in the July 13, 1990, death of his wife, Barbara George, 32, who was shot in the head in the couple’s Clinton Township comic book store.

Judge James Biernat made several other rulings Thursday: He denied George’s request to exclude testimony about his behavior after his wife’s death — such as witnesses’ accounts that he wore sunglasses to and flirted with other women at his wife’s funeral. He also denied George’s request to quash charges of insurance fraud.

His own lawyers admit he committed acts of adultery with more then one woman. I would say this is a very bad development.

A trial date has been set for comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George. His trial has been scheduled to begin February 26 in Michigan. The trial is scheduled to last two weeks.

George stands accused of murdering his wife, Barbara George, 17 years ago execution style in the comic book shop they both owned. Investigators initially believed that that the murder was the result of a robbery gone bad. George claimed at the time that many high-value comic books were missing from the store. He filed an insurance claim against the missing books and received $13,000 from his insurance company.

It’s the prosecutor’s contention that no comic books were stolen and that the story of missing books was made up by George to make it look like a robbery. Both cash registers in the store still contained money and Barbara George still had all of her jewelry when they found her. A witness will testify that George was in the shop at around the time of the murder. The witness is claiming that he called the comic book shop at around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George.

Michael George claims that he was asleep on his mother’s sofa at the time of the murder. His mother and his then 4-year old daughter will testify that he was asleep on the sofa. Neighbors will also testify that they remember Michael George’s vehicle parked in front of his mother’s house at the time of the murder.

No physical evidence links Michael George to the murder. The weapon used to kill Barbara George has not been found.