Reply #25: Thank you for the St Louis American article -

[IndyOp]

This is key folks:

“They said his name had come up in an investigation and they needed to ask him some questions,” Thomas said. She added that the detectives would not tell her where they were taking her son and that they told her she did not need to contact a lawyer. She did not hear anything from the detectives until around 11 p.m. that night (April 6), when a detective called to inform her that he had “some bad news” and that Reggie had confessed to the rapes and murders of Robin and Julie Kerry.

Clemons’ parents were denied access to their son before, during and after the police interrogation. When Thomas was finally allowed to see her son days later, she said he professed his innocence and said that detectives had beaten a confession out of him.

Most people have no clue that detectives are by law allowed tremendous leeway in 'questionning' any suspect - they can lie to them about the evidence they've found, lie to them about what might happen to them, keep them apart from everyone but their lawyer. Most innocent people believe that because they are innocent, they don't need a lawyer.

The beating was obviously illegal. I have a friend who used to work in a hospital in Los Angeles. When the police brought in people who were under arrest, many of the 'street smart' people would beg my friend to X-ray them in the emergency room with the portable machine instead of sending them upstairs to X-ray. They would still have to go upstairs eventually, but at least there would be a comparison film - so if the cops broke any bones in the elevator there would be evidence.

:grr: