He Won’t Walk Far
Here are a few clipped quotes from The O’Reilly Factor on June 17. 2005:
Counselor, is it true that the police in Citrus County (search) didn’t advise John Couey of his rights and that a lot of the things he told them may be thrown out? Is that true?
HERB COHEN, ATTORNEY FOR MARK LUNSFORD: Basically, the answer to that is yes. What is true is that, at some point during the — there’s a number of conversations Couey had with police. The first one doesn’t count. The second one that did, which is an extensive admission and confession of all the things he did and how he did it, may be lost because of a lack of Miranda warnings.
…
COHEN: They went to Mark Lunsford’s home, one of the prosecutors and one or two investigators, and they said there’s a chance of losing the confession.
And what happened simply was, Bill, is that they started talking to Couey. They talked to him 20, 25 minutes. At some point in time he said — we’re not sure now exactly what he said —because this is important — that he wanted a lawyer. They stopped the questioning. They went back the next morning and started again.
There’s no indication that they invoked the Miranda warnings at that point. There’s no indications as to how he said he wanted a lawyer. But because of just starting up the questioning again..
…
CAMPBELL: This is the missing piece of the puzzle that we’ve been looking at. We’ve been banging our heads for weeks, trying to figure out why he wouldn’t prosecute the occupants of the mobile home.
Now, if what Herb is telling us is true, and I have no reason to doubt him, this case was compromised from the get-go. Not only couldn’t he go after the people in the mobile home, but John Couey, because of the way that this case was mishandled — this is gross incompetence from the get-go — mishandled, could actually escape the death penalty.
Worst-case scenario, Bill — you want to talk about outrage. Couey could actually walk away from this thing, worst-case scenario.
If the police botched this case like it sounds they have, and John Couey “walks” because of it, he won’t walk far.
[Source: Right Voices]
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