Reply #89: He confessed, and in his confession revealed details that the police did not know yet.

[moriah]

I do have to say that I think the idiotic police officers who continued to question him after he asked for an attorney need to lose their jobs, or at least go back through the academy -- he could have walked because of them denying him his right to an attorney.

I personally believe all police interviews, especially in murder cases where the death penalty is a possibility, should be videotaped... not just confessions. Both custodial and non-custodial interviews, and not just interviews with suspects but witnesses as well. It would reduce the likelihood of a false confession being induced by police, and would allow investigators to go back and study not just the words said, but also the body language used.

I also have significant issues with executing the borderline mentally retarded. Then again, I think execution is a kinder fate than what I believe is deserved in most cases where the death penalty is given. I think making them spend the rest of their lives in prison, with the knowledge that they would never walk free again and would die behind those walls, is a harsher punishment than ending their suffering prematurely. (Here in Arkansas, all death row inmates are in the Supermax unit -- a person who received life in prison without the possibility of parole is also often put there. Yeah, the 23 hours in a box kind of unit.) So I oppose the death penalty mainly for that reason.

But in this case, he told them that she was buried alive before they ever found her body, and told them that he had put her in a plastic bag. That is the kind of corroboration to a confession that indicates a confession is true rather than false, and since the police didn't know those facts at the time, there's no way they could have fed him the story and just have him repeat it back on camera. (If you want to look at a confession that I personally believe was false, check out the West Memphis Three case.)

I think it's pretty safe to call him a murderer.