Inclusion Daily Express -- City To Pay $1 Million For False Murder Confession

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City To Pay $1 Million For False Murder Confession
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
October 16, 2006

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--One day in July 2000, Corethian Bell phoned police to report that he had found the body of his mother, Netta, in her apartment. She had been shot to death, he said.

Fifty hours later, Bell confessed to killing his mother because, he said, he was angry with her for her cocaine addiction. The confession was captured on videotape.

The trouble is, he didn't do it.

In January 2002, Bell was released from prison after results from DNA tests failed to link him to the crime and pointed to another inmate who later pleaded guilty for murdering Bell's mother.

Bell, who reportedly has schizophrenia and an intellectual disability, later said he confessed after he was questioned for more than two days, and only after detectives yelled at him, told him he failed a lie-detector test and knocked him off of his chair several times. Bell said he believed that once he was in front of a judge he could explain that he was innocent and the judge would set him free.

Bell, 30, sued the city after he was released. Last Tuesday, city attorneys agreed to settle the suit for $1 million.

Bell's case also led Illinois lawmakers to pass a law requiring police to videotape all interrogations in murder investigations.

Related:
"Award to DNA-freed man City to pay $1 million over false confession" (Chicago Tribune)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/1016c.htm
"New Evidence Overturns Murder Convictions" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/laws/overturned.htm

Copyright © 2006 Inonit Publishing
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