Police 'forced innocent boy to confess'
A boy who was found guilty of murdering his 11-year-old sister when he was 12 years old said he only confessed after hours of police interrogation.
Thomas Cogdell is now 18 and still maintains he had nothing to do with the strangling death of his sister at their Arkansas, USA home.
Police suspected the boy had a part in the murder because he remained 'too calm' during the ordeal.
According to The Commercial Appeal, in August 2006, Thomas was awoken by his mother Melody Jones. They both found his 11-year-old sister Kaylee on her bed, her head covered with two shopping bags which was tied on with measuring tape and the family dog's lead.
His mother became hysterical however Thomas calmly called emergency 911 and directed police to their home. It was this stoic attitude that forced police to believe the boy was guilty of his sister's murder.
They dragged the young boy into questioning and allegedly used tactics such as threatening him with the death penalty to try to get a confession.
Thomas, a 'bookish' child can be heard in police tapes denying murdering his sister 36 times.
However when he asked for food, officers switched the tape recorder off for three-and-a-half hours. According to The Commercial Appeal, it was in this time that the officers told him that he could go home if he admitted to the murder and he'd go to jail if he didn't.
When the tape recorders were switched on, he confessed to his sister's murder, saying she was bossy and that he put the bags over her head to teach her a lesson.
"I was terrified," he said in a recent interview. "They wouldn't believe me and they said they would give me the death penalty."
The boy believed that DNA evidence would clear him and can be heard in the police recording telling his mother: "I didn't do it. It's OK, Mom. They won't find my fingerprints."
At one point, he let out cries, saying: "Why? ... I didn't do it, but they won't believe me. Help. I'm scared."
In the end they couldn't find any clear fingerprints and he was found guilty of second degree murder on the basis of his confession. He spent two years in jail before being released after a judge found him to be unfairly questioned. He had allegedly told police that he didn't understand what it meant to waive his rights to remain silent and have an attorney with him.
Although he is out of jail, he hasn't been cleared although he and his grandparents believe his mother to be guilty of the murder.
Ms Jones admitted to police that she had smacked her daughter the night before her death and that she sometimes forgets to take her bipolar disorder medicine but she denies killing her.
"I did not do anything to my daughter," she said. "I love her, I miss her."
She also doesn't suspect her son was involved in the crime: "I really wanted him to be totally cleared."
Ms Jones believes a stranger is to blame. saying "There was unknown male DNA at my house, Did you ever hear about that person? Nothing."
A lawyer with the Center on Wrongful Conviction of Youth said "The interrogation is one of the most riveting examples of psychological torture I have ever seen." however prosecuting attorney Robin Carroll told the Commercial Appeal that there had been no evidence forthcoming to doubt anything done in the case.
