According to court records, detectives told Perez that his father was dead, that they had recovered his body and it now “wore a toe tag at the morgue.” They said they had evidence that Perez killed his father and that he should just admit it, records show.
Perez insisted he didn’t remember killing anyone, but detectives allegedly told him that the human mind often tries to suppress troubling memories.
At one point during the interrogation, the investigators even threatened to have his pet Labrador Retriever, Margosha, euthanized as a stray, and brought the dog into the room so he could say goodbye. “OK? Your dog’s now gone, forget about it,” said an investigator.
Court Decision (PDF)
How are laws supposed to progress? Especially if almost all cases are settled instead of brought before a jury?
Its a real catch-22 engineered by SCOTUS to do just that, I believe. The number of cases that receive QI where the judge regretted that the way it works results in a finding that “reasonable” officers wouldn’t know just boils my blood.
Thank police unions and the justice system for making victims think settling is their best way forward. Fear of getting no justice at all after what they’ve been through is a powerful deterrent. That’s why I am glad when a well funded activist organization get behind victims (or are themselves the victim) and take it to trial.
I would be hard pressed not to accept a settlement in the neighborhood of a million dollars, as things are so effed up for workers in this economy and that would set me up for life invested properly.
The police run on quota, not justice.