A jury acquitted William J. Barnes on the charge that he murdered former Philadelphia police officer Walter Barclay in 1966. Despite the notorious facts in the case, the jury chose to hold prosecutors in check and uphold important principles of law. "I thought it was a tough sell on the basis of 40 years and the things that can happen in 40 years," said James Strazzella, a professor at Temple's Beasley School of Law. "It wouldn't surprise me that it would be awfully difficult to pin down a cause of death."