What a nice guy!
Hours after detectives arrested Vincent Smothers in a suburban Detroit alley in the spring of 2008, they say, he came out with a stunning confession: “I don’t have a profession,” he allegedly told an investigator. “I kill people for money.”
Then, police say, he laid out details of how each of eight hired hits happened. He stalked his victims before shooting them at close range. He killed some while talking on his cell phone and fired on others even when they appeared to lay lifeless on the ground.
Even in Detroit, which had more than 300 slayings last year, Smothers’ case is notable: Rarely is one person charged in so many deaths.
Police say Smothers confessed to murders on Detroit’s impoverished east side from 2006 until the end of 2007, with the last alleged hit coming on Dec. 26, 2007.
Now, his lawyers want these shocking confessions thrown out, planning on Friday to ask a judge to have them tossed on the grounds that Smothers was worn down while in custody.
Police deny it.
“He’d been accused of doing so many, he just wanted to get it over (with),” said Detective Sgt. Ken Ducker of the Michigan State Police.
Police say the work paid $60,000 over two years, although Smothers did one job for as little as $50. All but one of his victims were involved in drugs. The exception was a police officer’s wife….
I’ve heard stories about police and coercion. I’m sorry, but in this case, I don’t believe it one bit.
I understand that everyone’s entitled to a defense, but shame on those attorneys for trying to make that claim. This guy confessed in detail about his crimes! You can’t make that stuff up, even when, or IF, being coerced into a confession.
Lette 