BY DAVE PARRO
A Kendall County judge threw out a vital piece of evidence last week against Sandra Vasquez, ruling that the conduct of Oswego police officers while obtaining a videotaped confession in the hospital was "offensive." Two other statements made by the alleged drunken driver in the Oswego crash will be allowed, but the ruling was certainly a defeat for prosecutors.
Essentially, the judge didn't like the way police read Vasquez her Miranda rights and conducted their questioning. They rattled off her rights quickly, told Vasquez she was simply taking part in a question-and-answer session -- rather than an interrogation -- and didn't get her consent to be videotaped. They also didn't back off when Vasquez asked them to stop.
Interestingly, the two oral statements Vasquez made before she was read her rights are admissible -- in which she admits to drinking and being the driver in the crash that killed five teenagers -- while those made after she was read her rights were thrown out. The difference is that Vasquez was not yet considered a suspect when she first started talking to police, so her statements are considered voluntary.
