Her defense was taking a huge gamble that the jurors would find Miriam’s testimony compelling. It was her one chance to try and explain all of the “coincidences” that pointed to her having murdered her husband. If she could explain them in a rational manner, it would take her a long way toward ensuring a verdict of not guilty. But if she came off as arrogant or evasive, the effect could be devastating for her. Because this was so important, even before Miriam testified, the prosecution wrote up a memo for Judge Robison. Its title was “People’s Motion Regarding Defendant’s Anticipated Testimony.” The motion read in part: The People are particularly concerned with alleged statements attributed to Alan Helmick which are directly offered to negate the eleven counts of check forgery in this case. It is clear that the defense will argue that the defendant had the permission of Alan Helmick to write the checks at issue. This was a huge part of the prosecution’s contention that Miriam had killed Alan Helmick because he found out that she was forging his checks.
