Joran Van der Sloot Confesses to a Killing in Peru.
I’m not clear on whether or not Peruvian police are known for torturing suspects. Amnesty International’s website wasn’t much help.
What is the likelihood that Van der Sloot’s confession was tortured out of him?
Torture, probably not. But I have some experience (on the good side) with various Central & South American police forces & facilities. A Dutch or US experience it isn’t. They coulda scared him plenty without doing anything beyond talking.
I live near a really big US city and the police routinely beat confessions out of people who are not properly represented by council. Mere coercion would be mild in some cases. So yes, those Peruvian’s just might invite a confession.
I viewed a picture from a Peruvian prison where the inmates on the third floor were dangling a fellow inmate on a rope in front of the bars on a lower floor. I believe the man’s fate was very compromised and the guards must have been taking the pictures.
Guilty or not? From the reports, the evidence seems compelling. He rented the room where the murder took place. His and her comings and goings were on security video. No other parties entered the room. The gist of his confession seems logical based upon his past and his impulsive nature. Let Peruvian justice prevail.
Let’s hope they can get some additional info. out of him regarding Holloway.
I personally think his punishment should be left alone in a room with Flores’s and Hollaway’s parents and whatever weapons they desire.
This is GQ, so I’ll be needing a cite for that factual assertion. Also, when referring to members of the bar, the word is counsel.
Yeah I hope so too. Although at this point he has nothing left to lose, so he may “confess” to killing Natalie just to get people to shut up about it.
I kind of doubt that—I think the truth about Natalee Halloway (and where he dumped her body) is about the only thing of value he has left, and I imagine he will try to use it as a bargaining chip, possibly for more favorable treatment while locked up, perhaps a few luxuries in prison, maybe even a few years off of his sentence.
If his confession is true, I could care less what they did to him.
Writing from Peru.
Although torture is never impossible, in his specific case special care has been taken. His case is very high profile so coercion is very unlikely. What’s more, his confession, if accepted, would sgnifiocantly reduce his jail time from 15-25 to 6-15years and the possibility of parole at 1/3 of time.
To add another kink, Peru is currently in an international dispute with Chile in The Hague tribunal, so his being a Dutch citizen is seen as a reason to be extremely careful.
Well, the city is operating under a consent decree with the federal government for such tactics including keeping witnesses in jail for up to a year unless they talk and say what the prosecutor wants. That’s pretty coercive. Maybe you can figure out the city.
I stand corrected on the spelling.
Wow, only 6-15 years for a brutal murder, and possible for parole after just 1/3 of the sentence.
If all went well, it’s possible to kill somone and only do two years of actual prison time…
That’s pretty normal; it’s amazing how light sentences turn out to be if you don’t pisss off the worng people, and get to try for parole. We ahd a case in Canada where a woman called police saying her son’s killer had escaped and she saw him on the street - only to be told he was out on parole after 15 months. The trick is to plea-bargain down from first-degree, I guess.
OTOH, it is a Peru prison.
That is not a cite. I intend to put zero effort into attempting to verify your claim. That’s not the way things work here. You said the police in this unspecified “Big City” routinely beat confessions out of unrepresented defendants. Now you say there’s a consent decree with the federal government. That may be true. But if it is, there should be press reports, in reputable sources, to confirm your story. It is incumbent upon you to produce supporting documentation for your assertion.
Considering I know of at least one other instance where you have posted absolutely incorrect information on a legal topic in this forum, and never bothered to retract or apologize for same after being corrected, I am skeptical that you are correct in this instance.
For these reasons I find torture to be unlikely. He’s not some college kid caught dealing drugs, who will only make the news in his home town.
He is an extremely high profile suspect who has been at the center of news reports all over the world and a few different countries are very interested in what happens to him. So officials are going to be under scrutiny and won’t want to let anyone smack him around if it’s going to look bad on the world scene.
Is it possible he could sweet-talk his way out of Peruvian prison, and into Dutch or Aruban or American prison, by offering to reveal the location of Natalee’s body in exchange for extradition out of Peru?
I would bet that he is thinking of whatever he can to get the fuck out of Peru, and bargaining to reveal where Natalee’s body is would be the only leverage he has left in the whole wide world—The only problem is that the President of Peru has vowed that he will not allow that to happen and Joran will have to serve his sentence in Peru, and not in any other country…
According to this SDMB poster, ABC News has reported the Peruvian President will not allow Joran to serve his time outside of Peru.
Since the murder victim is the daughter of a prominent Peruvian businessman who was a presidential candidate, I would say there’s very little chance of Joran going to prison elsewhere. It’s like that Machete movie trailer… he fucked with the wrong Peruvian.
Given the international publicity, could Joran wind up in house arrest? Or some nicer accomodation than a regular Peruvian prison?
It would be embarrassing to have him die too soon.
[van der sloot]Note to self: Don’t kill random girls in countries where (a) there is no Miranda protection and (b) my dad isn’t a judge.[/van der sloot]
Peruvian provides the accused with all te rights in the classic Miranda warning (right to not incriminate yourself, right to silence, right to an attorney, right to get a public one for free).
There is no warning as such, however.