Would Perry March have been convicted if prosecutors only had the circumstantial evidence that was given the grand jury for his indictment?

Maybe so, maybe not, and the maybe not may be stronger than just the maybe.

Retired Metro Homicide Detective Grady Elam, one of a number of officers who worked on the case, says he doubts it.

Elam says the failure to find the body of Janet March, Perry's wife, was the hurdle in the case that investigators could not overcome.

"If we could have just found the victim's tooth or even a fingernail, it would have gone a long way to help in getting a conviction," the retired officer said.

But all of the evidence was circumstantial, the case was already nine-years-old at the time, most of it was uncovered soon after her disappearance in 1996, and there appeared to be little chance of uncovering any physical evidence.

With pressure mounting for some action in the case, the chief prosecutor reportedly said: "We're not going to get anymore, so let's go for broke."

With that, Metro Detective Bill Pridemore was sent before the Davidson County Grand Jury and obtained a second degree murder indictment.

It's not difficult for prosecutors to get an indictment since no evidence is presented on behalf of the defendant.

In order to get the return of March from Mexico, March could not be indicted for first-degree murder, which carries the death penalty. Mexico does not have a death penalty and will not extradite anyone facing execution.

One Nashville attorney says it would have been an interesting trial with what little evidence the prosecutors had at the time of March's indictment.

The hard evidence against Perry did not come to light until after the 45-year-old disbarred lawyer was returned to Nashville to face trial.

The attempt to get a jail house inmate to kill his wife's parents was a stroke of luck for prosecutors.

That resulted in Perry's father, Arthur, being implicated, kicked out of Mexico and brought to Nashville where he eventually implicated Perry in Janet's murder.

But without the prosecution's evidence of the past few months, Perry might be headed back in Ajijic, Mexico, sipping on a margarita sooner than later.