Opinion ID: 2637824
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Defendant's statements during the second recorded interrogation

Text: At 7:00 p.m. on December 5, 1996, Detectives Carroll and Aguillon returned defendant to the police station from the hospital, and began a second recorded interrogation. In this interrogation, the detectives told defendant that two other women had now identified him as a suspect in two different incidents. Detective Carroll briefly described the incidents reported by Maria M. and Laura Z. The detectives also explained how Maria and Laura had both unequivocally identified defendant after being shown a photographic lineup. Detective Aguillon explained defendant's predicamentthat three different women, who did not know each other, all described defendant as their attacker in incidents occurring within a month and a half. The detectives also explained that the small paring knife defendant had used to assault Sabrina P. had a handle that matched a set of knives found at his residence. Defendant denied involvement in any of the three assaults and claimed the three women must be mistaken or lying. As to Sophia's murder, defendant again denied hitting her or having any physical contact with her. Defendant claimed he mentioned the snackbar on the 911 call because he had seen the girls chase Sophia towards the snackbar. Contrary to what he had said in the first recorded interview, he now claimed he had not seen them coming from the playground. But when the detectives pointed out that it was not possible for him to have seen Sophia at the snackbar from his location on the street, defendant claimed, for the first time, that he had walked off on an adjacent street and then returned to the edge of the park, and that was when he saw them running towards the snackbar. The detectives said they did not find defendant's story credible and told him that no witnesses reported seeing any Black females in the area that night. They also told defendant they had spoken with people at the bar where defendant had claimed he met Sophia on the night of her murder and that the detectives had been told that Sophia did not hang out there. The detectives told defendant that Sophia was penniless, did not sell methamphetamine, and was only near Oakley Park because that was the route she took to walk home. Defendant did not change his story.