Rick Green had an interview today with Richard Lapointe. On Monday, a Superior Court judge in Rockville — in response to a ruling in his favor from the state Appellate Court — will take yet another look at this endlessly appealed saga of what is either a wrongful conviction or a very crafty mentally disabled murderer. The latest hearing on whether Richard deserves a new trial represents a dramatic, perhaps last, showdown in a case that has long attracted national attention.
Lapointe’s lawyers say critical exculpatory evidence, including notes from an arson investigator that suggest the crime took longer than police said, was suppressed during Lapointe’s 1992 trial.
The interview is bitter-sweet and shows you that there is some serious doubt here whether this man knowingly waved his Miranda Rights. Did he understand that being interrogated by police without legal help was wrong? He still thinks they were doing their job.
I have posted about Richard Lapointe before. All the articles that refer to him are listed below. If you will recall, the New York PD will start videotaping police interrogations to avoid wrongful convictions. If Lapointe’s interrogation was taped, we would not have been in this mess. And, if all evidence was tested and considered in a timely manner, we might even have caught the true murderer who is still out there.
I hope that on Monday, we will not only hear about the gloves and the burn time of the fire. I want the court to see all physical evidence found at the crime scene.
Please read the article and keep your fingers crossed that coming Monday, we will learn more about the truth, and maybe we will finally find out who really killed Mrs. Bernice Martin. Read the column here.