◆ SpookStack

September 25, 2002 HOMEPAGE NEWS SUMMARY, S “INTERNATIONAL, MONEYScope WEATHER ‘LOCAL NEWS ENTERTAINMENT ESPN SPORTS ‘SCI/TECH POLITICS HEALTH TRAVEL c | FEATURED SERVICES HOPPING JOWNLOADS SIGN UF: HOWE INTERACT VIDEO & AUDIO ;OARDS: HAT NEWS ALERTS CONTACT ABC Aninsider's view on what § makes the news... ~ “ ABCNEWS.com : Why Woulggy innocent Mari Confess? ea 1 HEREIN DATE 12 Confused Confessions Police Techniques Questioned When Wrong Guy Comes Clean By Geraldine Sealey SSNEWS.com Sept. 25 — The day Corethian Bell discovered his mother's dead body would have been tragic enough. As it turned out, Police interviewing techniques can leadsome things only got worse — the grieving son ‘not commit. (ABCNEWS.com) & Print this Page Email This Page SET See Most Sent innocent peopie to confess fo crimes they did * Two Women, Same Name Stain in Houston * Women's Brains Better at Handling Anger * Why Would an Innocent Man Confess? MORE ON THIS STORY ii COMMUNITY * Why Would An Innocent Person Confess? > RELATED STORIES * DNA Testing Changes Crimefighting * Debating DNA * Not Every Exonerated Man Gets Repaid soon became the prime suspect. Watch Primetime's report on ABC Thursday night at 10 p.m. ET. Chicago police took Bell in for questioning after he called 911 to report his mother's death. At the police station, Bell says he was held for 50 hours, screamed at, roughed up, and wrongly told he failed a lie detector test. Ultimately, Bell confessed on videotape to killing his mother. With that damning evidence, the case would have been closed. Bell served 17 months in Cook County Jail before forensic evidence saved him. Blood and semen collected at the scene, and not tested for months, pointed to the guilt of another man. “Prior to the advent of DNA evidence, Corethian Bell would be languishing in prison, there's no question," said Locke Bowman, Bell's attorney and the legal director of MacArthur Justice Center. Now, ina pending lawsuit, Bell accuses his interrogating Officers of coercing a phony confession out of him. He's not alone. Bad Confessions in Infamous Cases Just as DNA evidence has raised questions about traditional crime-fighting tools such as fingerprinting and eyewitness testimony, a slew of recent cases have shed light on the frequency of false file://G:\falseconfessions020925.html rearron comPeSed of 4 TRICLASSTFTED 2-2008 BY 60324 uc baw/rs/nja US HEADLIL * Why Do tt Confess? * 9/11 Prob: Flight Mem * Authoritie Mom's Nom * Crime Blo 9/25/02