Judge Says Murder Suspect Was Coerced By Middletown Police, Strikes Recorded Statement
A Superior Court judge strikes recorded statement after hearing on Wednesday
Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Stephen Nugent struck murder suspect Zachary Lapelusa's recorded statement, citing that State Trooper Joseph DuBeau and Middletown Detective Richard Gamache coerced him into talking after he invoked his right to remain silent, according to the Providence Journal.
Zachary Lapelusa of Milford, Conn., was charged with stabbing Antoinette Bruce in March of last year. Her body was found in the water off Hanging Rock Road.
The judge would not exclude statements Lapelusa made to police before he was read his rights, because he said police believed the victim could had been alive, and they acted out of urgency, rather than coercion.
The judge also determined that a state prosecutor did not deliberately omit information from a judge, in order to secure a warrant to take a DNA sample.
Nugent had ordered the hearing at the request of Lapelusa's attorneys.
Lew
7:41 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012
Why are we still wasting time and money on this piece of sh*t just end his life already!
Jfri
8:28 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012
RI doesn't have capital punishment.
IMHO
10:12 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012
They should!
Rich
10:12 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012
And it's guys like Lapelusa who make people want to change that.
This is the guy who stalked his co-worker from the Christmas Tree Shop in CT to her hotel in Middletown, correct?
IMHO
10:18 am on Thursday, October 25, 2012
Yes it is Rich.
Part of me says if you keep talking after you evoke your right to remain silent then that's your stupid mistake. (I know damn well that sometimes police really do trick people and they should leave a person who envokes alone. And that if they 'got away with it' with this guy it would snowball over time.)