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To: Izzy Dunne

but this story lacks much info....generally a confession can not alone convict somebody....they need corroberating evidence....what was that evidence....????


20 posted on 09/16/2010 12:24:44 PM PDT by cherry
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To: cherry

“but this story lacks much info....generally a confession can not alone convict somebody....they need corroberating evidence....what was that evidence....????”

You refer to the common-law doctrine of “corpus dilecti.” It’s a very low threshold. A person saying “I was raped” is sufficient to justify use of the statement “I did it.”

When I was a prosecutor, I had a very high standard for what I considered a confession. There were six elements to a true confession:

1. I did it.
2. I did it all.
3. Nobody made me do it.
4. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
5. I have no justification for what I did.
6. If you don’t lock me up, I will do it again.

Nobody ever met that standard.


24 posted on 09/16/2010 12:30:09 PM PDT by henkster (A broken government does not merit full faith and credit.)
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To: cherry

He, [allegedly] under duress, pled guilty, they don’t need corroborating evidence, especially if they had a forced confession.


33 posted on 09/16/2010 12:36:31 PM PDT by JDW11235 (I think I got it now!)
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To: cherry

From reading the article, it sounds to me as if maybe they pointed fingers at each other and allowed the prosecution to build a strong case that they were all involved.


42 posted on 09/16/2010 12:41:43 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark.")
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