While the ID Show "Sins & Secrets"

tonight has a recap on the Kent Leppink case, a case I have mentioned in previous posts, it sounds like it is the same old shit that 48 Hours had a few years ago, with all of the silliness about one-time accused killer Mechele Linehan's colorful past as a stripper and so on. However, as we know a judge finally threw out her conviction because it was based on inadmissible and frankly nonexistent evidence tying her to the crime. (One could say the same about the late John Carlin, who was convicted of the crime and then cleared when he was killed in prison.)

It appears Mechele was free to leave the state Tuesday, and the prosecution never tried to re-indict her.

Without that silly "letter from the grave" and a videotape of some movie, there was simply no case to pursue.

On Feb. 5, 2010, the Alaska Court of Appeals overturned Linehan's conviction. In part, the court concluded it was improper for the trial court to let jurors learn about a “letter from the grave” Leppink wrote to his parents, Kenneth and Betsy Leppink of Shelby, a few days before his death. The letter said Linehan, Carlin or another man were “probably” responsible if Leppink died under “suspicious circumstances.”

Last month, another judge ruled that it was just as improper for a grand jury to hear about that letter, through testimony about it by Betsy Leppink. As a result, the indictment was dismissed.