STORY: "Police Played ‘Mind Games’ With Cornell Murder Suspect, Lawyers Say," by reporter Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, published by The Cornell Sun on February 2, 2-17."
GIST: "Three days after the double-stabbing on Cornell’s campus in August
that left one Ithaca College student dead and another injured, police
interviewed Nagee Green during his shift at Subway in Collegetown. When police arrested Green, 23, about 10 weeks later on Nov. 7,
investigators grilled him for hours about his alleged involvement in the
death of Anthony Nazaire and the stab wounds suffered by Rahiem
Williams, both of Brooklyn. Green ultimately said he remembered stabbing both men, according to a
transcript produced by his lawyers, but his attorneys claim in a motion
to suppress Green’s statements that investigators “engaged in
psychological mind games” during the interrogation and that the
confession came “after more than three hours of outright lies,
exaggerations, false statements and persistent pseudo-logical
argumentations engaged in by their trained and experienced
interrogators.”.........In the motion filed by defense attorney Michael Perehinec Jr. in
Tompkins County Court on Jan. 20, he requested a hearing to determine
the admissibility of Green’s confession, alleging that police lied to
Green, that his statements were taken without the presence of an
attorney and that Green was not adequately advised of his Miranda
rights......... The defense motion also included a 73-page transcript of the police
interrogation of Green at the New York State Police Barracks in
Freeville, transcribed by a paralegal working in the office of Joseph
Joch, one of Green’s lawyers. During the interrogation, Investigator Kevin McKenna of the Ithaca
Police Department and Senior Investigator Richard Haas of New York State
Police described their version of events based on, they said, video
evidence and witness testimony.........Over the course of several hours, the investigators prod Green to
admit that he stabbed the two Ithaca College students. They told Green
there was a rumor his grandmother knew he killed somebody. They refer to Nazaire as “bleeding like a stuck pig,” and tell Green
that his version of events is “lame. It’s worse than lame.” They tell
Green he’s going to “come across as a liar” and that he will “look like a
monster” in the eyes of the public if he doesn’t confess. The
investigators ask Green if he’s willing to admit that he’s having
nightmares. One investigator tells him, “All of this comes back. Your eyes are
popping because of the blow. You’re still replaying that in your head. I
can see it in your eyes. … It’s called PTSD. Everybody gets it. You
have it, I know you have it.” Multiple times, the investigators tell Green they have video of
portions of the fight and that Green will be able to see the clip as
soon as it gets to the barracks. Then, at one point, when the
investigators are discussing the murder weapon — a large black folding
knife, according to police — one tells Green, “it was on the ground,
with your DNA.” Perehinec said in his motion that “No video whatsoever exists of
Nagee Green stabbing anyone nor was Mr. Green’s DNA found on any knife
located and collected at the scene, both facts being contrary to
statements made by interrogators.” Around the three-hour mark of the interrogation, Green tells
investigators he remembers stabbing both Nazaire and Williams as he was
trying to get up from under them. An investigator asked, “Do you feel better getting this off your chest?” “Yes,” Green replies. “Do you have any questions for us?” “Um, only if I could call my mom.”
http://cornellsun.com/2017/02/02/police-played-mind-games-with-cornell-murder-suspect-lawyers-say/