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Adrian P. Thomas was a father of seven children living in Troy, New York, when, in September 2008, his four-month-old son died. A preliminary medical examination indicated that the infant died from head trauma. The police interrogated Thomas for nearly 10 hours during which he confessed to throwing his son on the bed three times. The entire interrogation was videotaped. He was charged with second-degree murder, found guilty, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. In 2011, Grover Babcock and Blue Hadaegh were looking for an example of a coerced confession as the basis for a documentary film they were planning and they used Thomas' interrogation video to make the documentary ''Scenes of a Crime''. Thomas appealed his conviction based on a coercive interrogation, however, the state appellate justices of New York denied his appeal in 2012. Thomas then appealed his conviction to the New York Court of Appeals. In February 2014, the seven judges unanimously ruled that Thomas must have another trial excluding the videotaped confession. A second trial was held and on June 12, 2014, the jury found him not guilty of second degree murder of his infant son. The case created controversy about how much coercion is legally permissible in police interrogations. ==Background== In September 2008, Thomas was 26 years old, unemployed, and the father of seven children living in Troy, New York.〔 According to his relatives, he moved to Troy from Douglas, Georgia,〔 after he married Wilhelmina Hicks.〔 On September 23, 2008,〔 〕 Thomas' son Mathew Thomas, who was approximately 4 months old and had previously been pronounced brain dead in a hospital in Troy, died in Albany Medical Center Hospital.〔〔 〕 A doctor at the hospital told police that Mathew died of head injuries that he had sustained. Because of the doctor's report, police began questioning Thomas about the circumstances of his son's death. Thomas initially denied that he had done anything to his son that could have caused his head injuries, but towards the end of a nearly 10-hour interrogation, Thomas confessed to throwing Mathew on to the bed three times.〔 He told police he had been fighting with his wife and that out of frustration, he threw his son on to the bed three times.〔 He then signed a confession.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Adrian P. Thomas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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