You are "This Close" to Life in Prison

Mike

How much evidence do you think a jury would need to hear before convicting you of murder?  This, literally is all it takes:

Sergeant Eddy took notes of this interview [with the defendant] and told [the defendant] that he would 'pass on everything he told me to the prosecutor's office,' but he did not tape [the defendant's] statement, use a stenographer, or get a formal sworn statement from [the defendant].

Yes, that's it.  All a jury needs is to hear a detective claim that you admitted doing something illegal.  If you think I'm exaggerating, read pages 1-3 of this case.  That was literally the only evidence against the defendant.  People v. Moore, at *3.  ("Because neither [the victim] nor any other witnesses could identify [the defendant] in a lineup, [the defendant's] statements to Sergeant Eddy were the only evidence linking him to the murder." 

No forensic evidence tied the defendant to the murder.  No eyewitness put Moore on the scene.  The police didn't even have a co-defendant's testimony inculpating the defendant.  They had nothing.

All the jury had was the testimony of a police detective who did not take a statement, or record his interview with the defendant.

A detective's word, dear friends, is all that separates you from a life behind bars.