DNA Tests Clear Wrongfully Convicted Half-Brothers After 30 Years

[MachZer0]

The cigarette butt DNA would've provided reasonable doubt had it been available at the earlier trial.

It was just a cigarette butt

 

[MachZer0]

Now that verdict is thrown out. If there was sufficiant evidence to counter the DNA results, the Judge would simply deny the motion. Or, the judge could order a retrial. In essence, the judge is ruling that there would not likely have been a conviction had this evidence been available at the time of the original trial and appeal.

It's a trend by bleeding heart judges to overturn cases like this. A cigarette butt does not demonstrate that the two didn't kill the girl

 

[DaisyDay]

They were founf guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, and that verdict held up under appeal

Even coerced confessions are considered beyond reasonable doubt by too many people.

The two young defendants were prosecuted by Joe Freeman Britt, the 6-foot-6, Bible-quoting district attorney who was later profiled by “60 Minutes” as the country’s “deadliest D.A.” because he sought the death penalty so often...

...After five hours of questioning with no lawyer present and with his mother weeping in the hallway, not allowed to see him, Mr. McCollum told a story of how he and three other youths attacked and killed the girl.

“I had never been under this much pressure, with a person hollering at me and threatening me,” Mr. McCollum said in a recent videotaped interview** with The News & Observer. “I just made up a story and gave it to them so they would let me go home.”...

... The other two men mentioned in Mr. McCollum’s confession were never prosecuted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/u...rolina-murder-freed-after-dna-tests.html?_r=0

**http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxV6PWfa7i8

 

[Belk]

Noting the paucity of responses to requests for evidence of said coercion

Claiming that it is difficult to have a detailed coerced confession is a claim to direct knowledge. Do you or do you not have such knowledge?

 

[MachZer0]

Claiming that it is difficult to have a detailed coerced confession is a claim to direct knowledge. Do you or do you not have such knowledge?

Sorry, but the claim I made was in general, not specific.

 

[HorsieJuice]

It was just a cigarette butt

No, it was a cigarette butt containing the DNA of a rapist who lived in the area.

 

[cow451]

It's a trend by bleeding heart judges to overturn cases like this. A cigarette butt does not demonstrate that the two didn't kill the girl

There is no evidence--except for your making it up-- that this is a "bleeding heart judge".

Payne told the Guardian the confession that Brown signed was riddled with inconsistencies. “It was inconsistent with the physical evidence, with the facts of the case, with his brother’s confession, and it contained details that were known by the police officers interrogating him at the time. When you combine that with the DNA evidence that we now have, it makes a very bold statement that both my client’s and McCollum’s confessions were false.”
At no point over the past 30 years has any physical or forensic evidence been produced to directly connect either man to Buie’s rape and murder. DNA testing was not available at the time of the original trial, and it is only in recent years that investigators have applied genetic testing techniques to biological evidence gathered at the crime scene.

The men signed confessions written by police interviewers and did not have attorneys present.

 

[MachZer0]

Even coerced confessions are considered beyond reasonable doubt by too many people.

Funny how he "just made up a story" that matched the evidence at the scene

 

[HorsieJuice]

Funny how he "just made up a story" that matched the evidence at the scene

Do you believe that the cops were incapable of feeding information to the suspect or otherwise corrupting the validity of the confession?

 

[cow451]

Funny how he "just made up a story" that matched the evidence at the scene

This is just too easy. Written for him by the police interviewer and without the advice of an attorney.
The strength of the DNA evidence is such that even the present district attorney for Robeson County, Johnson Britt, is not opposing calls for Brown and McCollum to be released.
“The whole case rests on the confessions and the DNA evidence threw those confessions under the bus,” Britt told the Raleigh News Observer.

Also:

In a court filing, Brown’s lawyers write that “from 1984 until 2014, the Red Springs police department was in possession of exculpatory evidence which is material to Leon Brown’s innocence. The Red Springs police department withheld exculpatory evidence from the state and from Leon Brown and his attorneys.”

 

[MachZer0]

There is no evidence--except for your making it up-- that this is a "bleeding heart judge".

Payne told the Guardian the confession that Brown signed was riddled with inconsistencies. “It was inconsistent with the physical evidence, with the facts of the case, with his brother’s confession, and it contained details that were known by the police officers interrogating him at the time. When you combine that with the DNA evidence that we now have, it makes a very bold statement that both my client’s and McCollum’s confessions were false.”
At no point over the past 30 years has any physical or forensic evidence been produced to directly connect either man to Buie’s rape and murder. DNA testing was not available at the time of the original trial, and it is only in recent years that investigators have applied genetic testing techniques to biological evidence gathered at the crime scene.

The men signed confessions written by police interviewers and did not have attorneys present.

The statement given was quite specific and matched the evidence found by police at the scene ;

"The defendant Henry Lee McCollum gave a statement to law enforcement officers on 28 September 1983. He said that he saw the victim Sabrina Buie and a male named Darrell Suber come out of Sabrina's house at about 9:30 p.m. on 24 September 1983. McCollum and four other males joined them, and the group then went to a "little red house near the ballpark." The five males tried to convince Sabrina to have sexual intercourse with them, but she refused. Two of the males went to a nearby store and bought malt liquor. When they returned, the males discussed having sexual intercourse with Sabrina. One of the males, Louis Moore, refused to participate and left. McCollum, Sabrina and the others then walked across a bean field behind the store. They sat there in some bushes and drank the malt liquor. Suber then said that he was going to have sexual intercourse with Sabrina. The defendant Henry Lee McCollum grabbed Sabrina's right arm, and another member of the group grabbed her left arm. Suber then raped her while McCollum and the other male held her. Each man raped Sabrina while others held her. Evidence presented tended to show that two of the men also sodomized her.
Suber then said, "we got to do something because she'll go uptown and tell the cops we raped her." The defendant Henry Lee McCollum grabbed Sabrina's right arm and held her while another male grabbed her left arm. Chris knelt over Sabrina's head and with a stick pushed her panties down her throat. After they knew she was dead, McCollum and Chris dragged her body away to hide it from view."


Also of note is that McCollum was granted a second trial, and still found guilty


Then someone discovered a cigarette butt

 

[Belk]

Sorry, but the claim I made was in general, not
specific.

You did?

Difficult to coerce such a concise confession

It looks to like you are making a claim about this specific confession. Is that not the case? You are saying that it is difficult in general to coerce a concise confession from anyone?

 

[Loudmouth]

The statement given was quite specific and matched the evidence found by police at the scene ;

Are you saying it is impossible for police to feed the suspects the specifics, and then railroad them into signing the confession?

 

[HorsieJuice]

The statement given was quite specific and matched the evidence found by police at the scene ;

Except the part about the participants with alibis.

Oops.

And you didn't answer the question about the ability of cops with knowledge of the crime to contaminate the validity of the confession (i.e. feed information to the accused)

 

[MachZer0]

Are you saying it is impossible for police to feed the suspects the specifics, and then railroad them into signing the confession?

I'm asking others to demonstrate that they did

 

[Loudmouth]

I'm asking others to demonstrate that they did

The DNA evidence is that demonstration.

 

[Brigid48]

Give an example of the coercion used

The Innocence Project - Understand the Causes: False Confessions / Admissions

 

[DaisyDay]

Funny how he "just made up a story" that matched the evidence at the scene

And the two other men in the confession? Funny how they were not prosecuted.

 

[cow451]

The statement given was quite specific and matched the evidence found by police at the scene ;

Since the police wrote the confession, I expect it would fit the evidence.

"The defendant Henry Lee McCollum gave a statement to law enforcement officers on 28 September 1983. He said that he saw the victim Sabrina Buie and a male named Darrell Suber come out of Sabrina's house at about 9:30 p.m. on 24 September 1983. McCollum and four other males joined them, and the group then went to a "little red house near the ballpark." The five males tried to convince Sabrina to have sexual intercourse with them, but she refused. Two of the males went to a nearby store and bought malt liquor. When they returned, the males discussed having sexual intercourse with Sabrina. One of the males, Louis Moore, refused to participate and left. McCollum, Sabrina and the others then walked across a bean field behind the store. They sat there in some bushes and drank the malt liquor. Suber then said that he was going to have sexual intercourse with Sabrina. The defendant Henry Lee McCollum grabbed Sabrina's right arm, and another member of the group grabbed her left arm. Suber then raped her while McCollum and the other male held her. Each man raped Sabrina while others held her. Evidence presented tended to show that two of the men also sodomized her.
Suber then said, "we got to do something because she'll go uptown and tell the cops we raped her." The defendant Henry Lee McCollum grabbed Sabrina's right arm and held her while another male grabbed her left arm. Chris knelt over Sabrina's head and with a stick pushed her panties down her throat. After they knew she was dead, McCollum and Chris dragged her body away to hide it from view."

Go back and read the links I posted for you. The other people implicated in the "confession" turned out to have air-tight alibis.

Also of note is that McCollum was granted a second trial, and still found guilty

Before all the evidence had been brought to the attention of the court.

Then someone discovered a cigarette butt

Which, along with other exculpatory evidence was witheld from the defense, it is the DNA that is the issue, not the Newport. As you appear to not understand, DNA analysis was not available for the jurors to consider at the trial. And, they were not aware that a fingerprint found was never analysed (it did not match the defendants).

 

[Brigid48]

Funny how he "just made up a story" that matched the evidence at the scene

1. Had you bothered to read the links you would have seen his confession contained false info that didn't match the crime.
2. You clearly have zero comprehension of how police can force a confession by asking leading questions with the information that they want in the confession and continue hammering that into the people for hours on end.