Friday, January 3, 2020

Demond Weston: Illinois: No physical evidence linking him to the crime - just a confession he claimed had been beaten out of him during a 12-hour interrogation after his arrest when he was only 17-years-old. CBS News (Reporter Jermont Terry) tells this disturbing story..."Even Weston’s own attorney doubted the forced confession. Weston said his attorney told him, “‘Oh, they’re not going to believe a black boy from Englewood over the word of these detectives,’ and stuff like that.” “It made me feel how I was at that point – this big,’” he said, gesturing his hand to signify something minuscule. But he said his own family always believed that he was innocent. “Everybody knew I didn’t do the crime,” Weston said. “The fact that I made it to prison as an innocent man, it took a lot out of me.” When the headlines about Burge’s torture of criminal suspects began coming out, Weston said he felt relieved in finding out he wasn’t alone. “I hated that it happened to somebody else, but at the same time, I don’t understand if people don’t understand the relief to find out it didn’t just happen to you,” Weston said. He said he started writing letters to others who were reported to be torture victims, though none responded."


PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of  scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects   are to widely used interrogation methods  such as  the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As  all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even torture.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "On Wednesday, Cook County Judge Angela Munari-Petrone vacated Weston’s murder conviction. Weston was greeted by his family as he walked out of prison Thursday. Weston has long claimed Chicago police detectives tortured him into a false confession in the killing of 19-year-old Joseph Watson in 1990. He said detectives beat him into a confession during a 12-hour interrogation. Weston was only 17 when he was arrested for Watson’s murder and three other gang-related shootings on the same day. He has said detectives beat him during a 12-hour investigation, and his attorneys have said there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime. The detectives Weston accused of abuse all had previously worked under the command of disgraced Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, who served three years in prison for lying about the torture of suspects in the 1970s and 1980s. Burge died last year. Special Cook County Prosecutor Robert Milan, who has been tasked with reviewing cases in which people are seeking new trials over allegations of police brutality, reportedly found Weston’s claims of abuse “unsubstantiated,” but also determined there wasn’t enough evidence to support a conviction."

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STORY: "Demond Weston: Released from prison, returns home after 29 years as prosecutors drop murder charge, by reporter Jermont Terry, published by CBS News on December 19, 2019.