Denial of rights to council, basic Miranda rights, rights to an attorney denied.

Providing a Voluntary DNA sample

Police detectives and prosecutors have insinuated that I refused to provide a voluntary DNA sample, and that my failure to do so implied guilt. This is a terrible misrepresentation of what really occurred.

In July of 2000, Florida detectives travelled to Easton, Maryland where I was living. A Maryland detective called my home one morning asking me to come to the police station for questioning concerning an assault. I agreed to come.  

At the police station 2 officers identified themselves as Maryland detectives and lied to me stating the Police Captains’ son had been assaulted in my neighborhood and that I fit the description of the assailant. They then asked me to provide a voluntary DNA sample.

I agreed to give the sample. However because I was being accused of committing a felony assault which I knew I had not done-and suspected never happened- I asked the detectives to allow me to call my attorney to be present for the collection. A detective actually said that they could not allow calling my lawyer! The officers then began acting strangely and tried repeatedly to trick me into leaving DNA behind.

First a detective took me to a parking garage to smoke. While smoking I noticed the officer was staring at my cigarette and acting nervous. I realized he had hoped to collect the butt so I put the cigarette out and placed the butt behind my ear. The detective turned visibly red and I started to feel threatened by their actions.

Next the second detective gave me a bottle of water. I didn’t realize their intent until I moved to open the bottle and both investigators zeroed in on it. I did not open the bottle because of how strange the police were acting. I was very confused as to why they would act like this so I requested my lawyer again and wasn’t allowed to call him AGAIN!

Finally detectives asked me to sign several forms and seal them in envelopes. I signed each form but wrote on the bottom of each, “I do not refuse, just want my lawyer present.” This form can be downloaded below. I put the form in the envelopes but did not seal them. One of the officers encouraged me to lick them and I told them that it was the 3^rd time he tried to get my lips on something and he could seal them himself. I then told them that unless I could call my attorney, I was leaving and I left. 

Exhibit A  

As you can see, I never refused to give a DNA sample. I wanted to give my DNA. I had nothing to hide. All I wanted was a lawyer! Once the police began their tricks that were so blatantly obviously through their facial expressions and their physical demeanor, I had no intention of providing my DNA without a lawyer.

The detectives actions were so illegal that the trial Judge suppressed this evidence and the Jury never heard about the bizarre encounter.

Rather than question why I didn’t fall for police trickery; people should have asked why the police refused to let me have an attorney present after lying to me about a fictitious crime. Why not just tell me I was a suspect in Parker's murder? And then request a DNA sample? The only logical explanation is that Detective Billy Carlyle was up to no good.

It is unfortunate that Dateline failed to thoroughly investigate this encounter and aired such a distorted perspective of what truly happened.

***Next post; Detective Billy Carlyle

My family and their lack of relation.

My sister Shelly Wess

Detectives claim that during their investigation they spoke with one of my sisters Shelly, and that she described me as a “nightsalker” and a "lunatic", while making comparisons to my brother. Oddly there are no written statements made by Shelly, and no video or audio taped interviews documenting her alleged statements.

Under oath during a deposition, Shelly stated that she never made these comments to police and that they made it up.

This is another example of detectives making statements that are completely unsupported by the record or witness statements. It is unfortunate that Dateline failed to investigate this claim made by Detective Billy Carlyle before airing such unsubstantiated allegations.

My brother Patrick Denney

Many comparisons have been made between the murder my brother committed in 1990 and the murder of Corey Parker which I have been wrongfully convicted of. Any connection between the two is nothing more than wild speculation concocted by Detective Billy Carlyle and the prosecution. This is type of innuendo one would expect to see on Entertainment Tonight or read in the National Enquirer.

To set the record straight, I had just turned 9 years old when my brother was arrested for murder. His crime was terrible and horrendous. It took an innocent life and devastated my family. I was shielded from specifics of his crime, of which I still know very little of. Our age difference acted as a huge barrier.

My brother never spoke to me about, or confessed the murder he committed to me. I haven't spoken to him since the day he was arrested 26 years ago, and wouldn’t recognize him. After my arrest we did exchange a few letters but they were awkward and we have stopped communicating all together.

Sadly, people are stabbed to death all the time in America. Any similarities between the two crimes is an unfortunate coincidence, and not some horror movie plot of two brothers competing to commit brutal murders.

The fact that my brother is a killer does not make me a murderer. Since when do we convict people based on a crime their relative committed? Leave the ridiculous comparisons to the novel writers and quit persecuting me for my brothers’ crime.

This comparison was so outrageous and irrelevant that the trial judge prevented any mention of my brother during trial. Even the prosecutor admitted that such testimony was inadmissible.

***Next Post; Providing a voluntary DNA sample

In the begining of the dead ended investigation

How I became a suspect

Since Dateline focused on old information already proven untrue I will need to revisit these topics yet again. I would really have rather moved forward instead of staying focused on old out dated material. Moving backwards we go!

 Corey Parker was murdered November 26, 1998; Thanksgiving Day. In the week following her death, detectives interviewed everyone who lived in the area including me, multiple times. Investigators testified that I was cooperative and they did not consider me a suspect.

Over 2 months later on January 29, 1999, I lied to my co-workers claiming I had a son who died in a car accident. I lied because I wanted the weekend off work to party. My co-workers learned that I did not tell the truth and I lost my job and was kicked out of my apartment. A few days later I entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.

To be clear, I am very sorry, ashamed and embarrassed for lying. It was a stupid thing to do. There is no excuse for my behavior, but I was only 17 years old and was using drugs and drinking heavily. However this occurred several months after Parker was murdered. Simply because I lied to get time off work does not make me a murderer.

A year and a half later a reward poster for $20,000 was circulating the community. Two of my former co-workers, Julie Sedgwick FKA Julie Snyder and Dane Hough saw a poster and meet at a party where they talked about me and the fact that I lived near Corey Parker and that I had lied to time to get off work. Also at the party was a police informant named William Rentschler (who has an interesting criminal history in core!). William Rentchler has never met me. William Rentchler over heard Julie Snyder and Dane Hough discussing me; subsequently providing my name to the police as a possible suspect. That is his extent to involvement in the case.

Unbelievably, Dateline presented an interview with William Rentchler where he claimed to be some sort of “bounty hunter” who conducted and independent investigation into the Corey Parker homicide. William Rentchler told Dateline that he interviewed witnesses and attempted to track me down. These claims are nothing more than fantasies of a wanna – be detective. Surprising Dateline did not investigate William Rentchler’s story. William Rentschler was not even allowed to testify at trial since he could only provide unsubstantiated hearsay.

Exhibit A

More disturbing are the claims made by Julie Snyder NKA Julie Sedgwick. Motivated by greed in the form of $20,000, Julie concocted a story that would almost guarantee my arrest. Julie told investigators that I lied to get out of work the same weekend Corey Parker was murdered. Even worse, Julie Snyder KNA Julie Sedgwick lied by stating the day I lied she saw scratches all over me and made false claims that I told her I was trying to date a girl who was a waitress and student while pointing towards Parkers apartment. If these claims were true (which they are not!) then any reasonable person would have called the police immediately, and would not have waited until a year and a half later to come forward after seeing a reward poster.

At trial Julie Snyder KNA Julie Sedgwick was impeached and had to admit that my untruthfulness occurred months after rather than days after the murder. She also backed off of her claim that I was covered in scratches since the lie made no sense. Unfortunately, she continued to imply that I attempted to date Corey Parker. Julie Snyder NKA Julie Sedgwick also admitted that she felt entitled to the reward money.

Exhibit B

Based off of this misinformation I became the sole focus of the police investigation. Soon after, detectives spoke with one of my sisters, Shelly Wess; the detectives then traveled to Easton, Maryland where I had moved to begin a career in the computer industry.

***Next post; my sister and brother and their connection, or lack of, to the investigation.

Editorial note ... while typing this blog post the proxy of the blog and the supporting family of the prisoner have made a startling connection. It is noted that Detective Billy Carlyle employed William Rentchler and Mr. Rentchler is related to Julie Snyder. What can be made from this connection is yet to be seen but will be looked into further. Did the Detective leak any information to his informant?

It should also be noted that the time period  in which Ms. Snyder made claims that while she was at Roberts apartment, Robert looked down into the neighbors window and pointed stating he wanted to date Ms. Parker, Robert had a girlfriend; Heather Champion. Julie ended up splitting the reward money even though she was impeached at trial for lying and we are not sure what the split was.

Lastly, of the 15 suspects from the case, a handful of suspects were never investigated even though they were called in the same day or the day after the murder. There is a gross negligence of work that was done that none of the advocates seem to be able to understand.Why the detectives never even followed up on so many first hand suspects (at all, we know of 4 very possible suspects that never submitted DNA samples) and then waited a year and half to zero in on Robert is yet to be understood.

Link from jacksonville.com

                  

Datelines espisode "Rear Window"

Response to Datelines one sided reporting

Datelines report on the case has left me disappointed and baffled. I fail to see the point or purpose of the episode since it did not address any favorable aspects of my defense and neglected to detail any of the new evidence discovered since the trial in 2005. Specifically, the fact that Angela Corey withheld and covered up evidence of information from an original suspect; documented proof of evidence tampering and contamination; and the FBI admitting evidence was mishandled by a previously unknown lab analyst.

It seems as if Dateline hastily prepared this segment designed to validate the evidence, prosecution and conviction. I am posting a letter written to NBC universal expressing my disbelief with Dateline’s unfair reporting and will update everyone if they provide a response.  

Very disturbing is the fact that my interview was edited in such a way as to mischaracterize the evidence and purposely excludes my explanation to the most important areas of the case. I feel that people deserve the full story and I call on Dateline to release my entire interview on its website.

Anyone familiar with the case and who has read this blog likely noticed that Datelines report is far from an accurate portrayal of the facts. I urge anyone unfamiliar with the case to read the entire blogs previous posts and download the available documents, then compare what you read to Datelines episode. The deficiencies are obvious. 

Hopefully Dateline lives up to its reputation as a balanced news program and reevaluates its inaccurate portrayal of the case to rely on more than simply the unsubstantiated word of Angela Corey and Detective Billy Carlyle. Until then I will continue to offer and rely on proof of my allegations. I feel compelled to devote the next few posts responding to areas of the Dateline show that were inaccurate, misleading and missing.