Are you SURE this how St. Isaac Jogues got started?

By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 22, 2003

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, obviously, but the St. Louis County Police must have mastered the interrogation techniques of the Lubyanka and the Hanoi Hilton:

The Rev. Bryan Kuchar told a jury in St. Louis County Circuit Court that a 20-minute audiotaped confession he made on April 10, 2002, was a lie so police would leave him alone and let him go home. Kuchar is charged with six counts of statutory sodomy. The case went to the jury about 3:30 this afternoon; it is expected to decide today whether to believe the alleged victim, now 22 and then 14, and the confession police got from Kuchar or to believe the priest when he says he is totally innocent of the charges.

Under questioning by his attorney Scott Rosenblum, Kuchar said county police detectives Jennifer Williams and John Newsham pressured him into a bogus confession during the interrogation. The questioning lasted three hours. Kuchar said he felt claustrophobic in the locked, windowless interrogation room. He said Williams kept yelling that he was a liar when he denied any sexual abuse of the teenager. He said he finally agreed to a false confession when police told him they would keep the matter quiet if he would admit the allegations of the teen.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Rob Livergood, Kuchar conceded that confessionals used by priest are a lot smaller than the room in which he was questioned.

They say Sergeant Jenny can be terrifying when her lip gloss clashes with her earrings.