"Dateline" to air another episode on George murder trial

A Michigan murder case with local ties will once again be featured on "Dateline NBC."

 

The 1990 murder of Barbara George and the conviction of her husband, Michael George, will be the newsmagazine's focus from 9 to 11 p.m. Friday.

 

Michael George was arrested in Windber in 2007 after the Macomb County prosecutor re-opened the case. Barbara George was murdered in the comic book store she owned with her husband in July 1990. She was 32.

 

George, 52, is serving a life sentence for the murder after being convicted a second time in October. George was first convicted in 2008, but his conviction was overturned and a second trial was ordered.

 

Fred Rothenberg, "Dateline NBC" producer, said the show is dedicating another episode to the case to follow the appeal and subsequent 2011 trial. "Dateline" aired a two-hour episode in 2008 following the first conviction.

 

The story of George's arrest and first trial will be condensed to allow for coverage of the second trial. He said about 60 percent of the program will be about the new trial and appeal.

 

"The story was very interesting and compelling the first time and equally so, if not more so, the second time," Rothenberg said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

 

Rothenberg said several factors make the story interesting. One is that it took 17 years to make an arrest. The second is the fact that the prosecution's star witness, Michael Renaud, who said he called the comic book store shortly before the murder, told detectives his story in 1990 but no one followed up with him until the case was reopened 17 years later.

 

"Police opened up the case again and there in the file, clear as day, is this police report saying a man named Michael Renaud had called the comic store just before the murder and spoke to Michael George," Rothenberg said.

 

George said he was asleep on the couch at his mother's home at the time of the murder.