12 December 2007

Bring your iPod with you when you're brought down to the station

Here's an interesting story. A teenager is arrested in New York during a murder investigation in 2005. When the police bring him into the interrogation room, he hits record on his new mp3 player. The ensuing interrogation is digitally captured. He is charged with attempted murder, and none of the officers or detectives know about the recording.

Fast forward a couple of years.

Unaware of the recording, [New York] Detective Christopher Perino testified in April that the suspect "wasn't questioned" about a shooting in the Bronx, a criminal complaint said. But then the defense confronted the detective with a transcript it said proved he had spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to persuade Erik Crespo to confess—at times with vulgar tactics.


Oops.

Perino was arraigned on 12 counts of perjury last week. Each one could earn him as many as seven years in prison.


I can't imagine this is a mistake. I realize the interrogation happened two years ago, but it's not like Perino was being asked to remember details. Did he interrogate the suspect or not? While New York law doesn't require police to contact a 17-year old's parents or guardian before questioning them, interrogating minors without notifying their parents is still shady.

I hope Jack McCoy nails this guy.

3 comments:

sojohnson88 said...

Go Sam Waterston!

Jessie said...

So I'm pretty sure iPods don't record yet, so you'll have to bring a different mp3 device or something to do your recordings, sorry.

Brandon said...

Au contraire.

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