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Sunday, November 27, 2011
Ind. Courts - "Murder trial delayed as judge weighs confession's legality"
From a story yesterday in the Muncie Star-Press, reported by Douglas Walker:
NEW CASTLE -- The trial of a convicted felon accused of setting a fire that killed a New Castle woman has been postponed for a fourth time, as a judge contemplates whether the defendant's reported confession can be used as evidence.Donald Guffey, 49, is now set to stand trial March 19 on charges of arson and felony murder. He is accused of igniting a July 2010 blaze at a North 18th apartment building. An occupant of a second-floor apartment, 64-year-old Linda Conn, lost her life. The trial has been scheduled to begin Monday.
The judge in the case, Mary Willis of Henry Circuit Court 1, is considering whether to grant a motion by Guffey's public defender, Bryan Williams of Anderson, to declare his client's alleged confession to be inadmissable at trial.
In a recent court filing, Williams wrote that his client was first implicated in the arson fire on Aug. 31, 2010, by police informant Johnny Perdue, who claimed Guffey told him he had set the blaze. * * *
"There is no physical evidence to place (Guffey) at the scene of the crime," wrote Williams, adding that investigators also misled his client by telling him he had failed a lie detector test.
In a response, Henry County Prosecutor Kit Crane noted that Guffey was "advised of, and expressly acknowledged," his right to remain silent "not once but five times" before giving his statement.
Crane maintained Guffey -- whose criminal record includes convictions for armed robbery, burglary and theft, resulting in long stints in prison -- was "street wise," not likely to have been intimidated by police interrogation tactics.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 27, 2011 01:03 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts