This story was on ID a few nights ago, I remember seeing it years ago as well, and was wondering if anyone else was familiar with it? Amanda Cope, 12 years-old, was attacked in the middle of the night, strangled, raped and murdered in her bedroom, while the rest of her family was asleep. Her father, upon finding her, makes a seemingly odd 911 call to report her death.
An odd 911 call and no forced entry into the house... Cope is under suspicion for the murder of his daughter. They grill him. Over and over, to a count of more than 600 times, he claims he is innocent. He fails a polygraph test. He is refused to see his lawyer. Finally, he admits to the crime. They have him write out his confession... Several times. He is then brought to the scene of the crime, where he reenacts a horrible act of torture and murder.
1. The tests for the DNA found on Amanda come back as belonging to someone else. Cope, nor his lawyer, are informed of this information.
2. When they arrive at the house, there is evidence that a person could easily enter the house, and without anyone knowing.
3. After so many written confessions, the police still coerce Cope's wife into wearing a wire and trying to get another confession out of him.
4. The match to the DNA is a man, James Sanders, who has committed several crimes in the area around the same time as Amanda's death.
5. A woman, Amy Simmons, whom Cope became close and wrote to, has letters from him in which he confesses... Evidence will later point to the letters as being likely forgeries of his initial written confessions to the police. She is under suspicion of forgery and being investigated for the death of an elderly person under her care... None of this is brought up at the trial.
6. An expert in forced confessions, after only a few minutes of testifying, is told to leave the courtroom by the judge. The judge then renders his testimony as inadmissible.
7. You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't... How many times has a frantic 911 caller been the actual murderer? So if you call, trying to remain calm, you're automatically considered a suspect. When, in all likelihood, if you call and are frantic... You have a better chance at being the killer.
8. There is evidence that proves Sanders and Cope have never had contact with each other. Once again, this was not admitted at trial.
When the trial begins, Cope and Sanders go on trial at the same time. The prosecutor tries to portray Cope as heartless, and admits the 911 call as evidence. He also claims you can't convict one man, Sanders, without convicting the other, Cope.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38060491...crime_reports/
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Innoc...-93143179.html
And to top it all off, the other odd thing... His wife died unexpectedly while under, you guessed it... Amy's care.
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Originally Posted by Flowergrrl
