Federal Court Upholds Petitioner's Murder Conviction

Summary

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Even though the police lied to the petitioner by telling him an accomplice confessed to a crime involving the robbery and death of an 88-year-old man, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York determined the petitioner's subsequent confession was voluntarily made and not coerced.

In determining the trial court did not err in denying the petitioner's motion to suppress the confession, Judge David G. Larimer in Richard Whitlatch v. Daniel A. Senkowski, Superintendent, concluded while the police's tactic was deceptive, it was not unlawful and there was no evidence the police used threats or made false promises to the petitioner in order to coerce him into confessing.

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Extract

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Federal Court Upholds Petitioner's Murder Conviction

Petitioner's Convictions

The petitioner, Richard Whitlatch, was convicted of Robbery in the Second Degree, Burglary in the First Degree and Murder in the Second Degree.

The convictions stemmed from an incident on Aug. 6, 1999 where Whitlatch allegedly went to the home of Gerald Bon...

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