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Convicted Murderer Will Soon Be Free (Iowa - serves three years for 2002 murder)
WHBF-TV Quad Cities ^

Posted on 02/06/2005 7:25:22 AM PST by NativeTexun

A Davenport man serving life in prison for his part in a grisly murder will soon be a free man again.

The Iowa Supreme Court is throwing out the conviction of Darryl McCoy.

McCoy confessed to police his role in the 2002 murder of Jonathon Johnson. He has been in prison now for three years. McCoys's confession was videotaped, but the Supreme Court says that tape should not have used as evidence.

Scott County Attorney Bill Davis says without the confession he does not have enough evidence to try 39 year-old McCoy again. Davis says he'll dismiss the case soon and McCoy will be free.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: crime; iowa; murderer; prisonterms; sentenceoverturned
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1 posted on 02/06/2005 7:25:23 AM PST by NativeTexun
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To: NativeTexun

Any idea WHY the tape was disallowed?? This is extremely wierd.


2 posted on 02/06/2005 7:26:42 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate (Life is sexually transmitted.)
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To: NativeTexun

When I saw this yesterday it made me sick. The guy was told by Police that if he didn't pull the trigger he wouldn't be in trouble. SO WHAT? Criminals are dumb. They fall for ploys like this. Why should our police not be able to say things like that? There's another reason the confession was thrown out, but I cannot remember right now. How sad and shocking.


3 posted on 02/06/2005 7:29:23 AM PST by JCRoberts
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To: NativeTexun

How hopeless the victim's relative must feel!


4 posted on 02/06/2005 7:29:27 AM PST by RAY (They that do right are all heroes!)
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To: An.American.Expatriate

I agree, but no information was given regarding your question. If I find more, I will post it.


5 posted on 02/06/2005 7:29:58 AM PST by NativeTexun
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To: An.American.Expatriate
Coerced confession? All the D.A really had was the confession. Weak reed to hang a murder conviction on. We'll never know if he did it. There were screw ups all around here.

Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."

6 posted on 02/06/2005 7:30:50 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: JCRoberts
You have lazy cops who didn't acquire corroborating evidence instead of relying on a taped confession. If they had acquired independent evidence on this guy, he would still be in prison. Iowa cops showed good work there! >sarcasm

Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."

7 posted on 02/06/2005 7:33:10 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: An.American.Expatriate
Police said McCoy helped his brother and another man kill Johnson, 21, after an argument over stolen Christmas gifts. An autopsy showed Johnson had been shot three times, stabbed, and suffered blows to the head.

A Davenport man found Johnson’s body wrapped in a bloodstained blanket in the back seat of a car in an apartment parking lot. A black garbage bag was around his head.

Detectives immediately focused on McCoy’s younger brother, Lawrence McCoy, after finding blood prints in the apartment he shared with Johnson’s sister.

Police pulled over a car they thought Lawrence McCoy was driving and pulled their guns, but it was Darryl McCoy who was driving the car.

He was put in the back of a patrol car and taken to the police station for questioning. It was during that videotaped interview that he admitted he was present during the slaying and helped clean up the apartment and dispose of Johnson’s body.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Darryl McCoy was illegally detained because the police had no probable cause to suspect him in the slaying. Therefore, his incriminating statements should be thrown out, the court ruled.

Quad-City Times article

8 posted on 02/06/2005 7:33:48 AM PST by JCRoberts
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To: An.American.Expatriate

Any idea WHY the tape was disallowed?? This is extremely wierd.



..The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that Darryl McCoy was illegally detained because the police had no probable cause to suspect him in the slaying. Therefore, his incriminating statements should be thrown out, the court ruled.

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1044947&l=1&t=Local+News&c=2,1044947


9 posted on 02/06/2005 7:36:19 AM PST by deport (There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.)
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To: deport

Hm. Per your link, they were looking for his brother because blood was found in his apartment. They picked up this guy, who confessed to have helped cut up and dispose of the body. It's not like he's some random stranger picked up for driving a similar car.


10 posted on 02/06/2005 8:01:08 AM PST by prion (Yes, as a matter of fact, I AM the spelling police)
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Opinon:
http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/supreme/opinions/20050204/02-1665.asp


11 posted on 02/06/2005 8:12:40 AM PST by NoDemocrat
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To: JCRoberts
If this article is correct, the police didn't suspect him. They just took him in for questioning...do the police you need probable cause to do ordinary police work like questioning people ?

If the person being questioned blurts out that he was there when the murders were committed, what are the police suppose to do ?
12 posted on 02/06/2005 8:19:10 AM PST by stylin19a (Marines - end of discussion)
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To: NativeTexun

It's beginning to appear that CCW laws will grow in popularity to overcome the influence of judicial activism. While he may not have "pulled the trigger" or actually murdered the victim, he is what used to be called an accessory to the murder and he aided and abetted the murderers who did kill the victim.

Don't worry, this idiot loser will be back in jail for another felony sometime in the future. The quesation is, can the future victim's family sue the judges on the ISC for releasing McCoy on such phoney grounds??


13 posted on 02/06/2005 8:32:00 AM PST by DustyMoment (Repeal CFR NOW!!)
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To: stylin19a
They just took him in for questioning...

Well, I haven't read the opinion, but there's your problem right there! The Fourth Amendment requires probable cause--the police just can't go around detaining people willy-nilly.

The police take him into the station, that's a seizure, and you need probable cause for that.

14 posted on 02/06/2005 8:35:44 AM PST by Publius Valerius
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To: DustyMoment
The quesation is, can the future victim's family sue the judges on the ISC for releasing McCoy on such phoney grounds??

On such phoney grounds? Are you kidding? Just grabbing someone off the street and then dragging them into the police station without ANY cause whatsoever is phoney grounds?

Like it or not, we do have a constitution and the police are obligated the follow the rules when conducting investigations. This is stupid police work. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

I've begun to read the opinion, and this is a slam dunk. Iowa police, do your job right next time and we won't have these problems.

15 posted on 02/06/2005 8:42:59 AM PST by Publius Valerius
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To: NativeTexun

Shouldn't there be a law similar to Megan's Law that allows the public to know a murderer is in their community? I know where the child molesters and rapists are in my town, but what good does that do me if a killer lives next door?


16 posted on 02/06/2005 8:43:12 AM PST by followerofchrist
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To: stylin19a
***If the person being questioned blurts out that he was there when the murders were committed, what are the police suppose to do?***

They're supposed to cover their ears and go ... LA-LA-LA-LA, I didn't hear you - then drive him home.

/IDIOT JUDGES & criminal rights BS sarcasm - derision: OFF

17 posted on 02/06/2005 8:51:35 AM PST by Condor51 (May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't. - Gen G Patton)
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To: Publius Valerius
agh...you're right, of course. I just read the Iowa Supreme court decision and I'm just taking my foot out of my mouth now.
He didn't go willingly but was taken to the station. End of discussion.
18 posted on 02/06/2005 9:10:52 AM PST by stylin19a (Marines - end of discussion)
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To: stylin19a

Leave it to the Davenport Police to mess up this one. I am not sure that they can do anything right. I lived there for 3 years had my car broken into 3 times, house broken into and robbed, and my wife had her purse snatched in front of out house during lunch. We never got more than a "well that happens a lot here" from the police.


19 posted on 02/06/2005 9:29:57 AM PST by jcdc
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To: jcdc

What are the main factors for crime in Davenport. Gangs, drugs - ??????


20 posted on 02/06/2005 9:39:33 AM PST by raybbr
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