Attorneys for Richmond Hill explosion suspect Bob Leonard are fighting to keep his recorded police interrogation from being used as evidence against him.
They claim interrogators should have quit asking questions the minute Leonard asked for a lawyer. Police and prosecutors say he just kept talking.
Both sides agree he didn’t say much. The issue is the significant effect the information could have on other evidence and whether Leonard takes the witness stand in his own defense
Ten days after the deadly and devastating explosion, and a month before Bob Leonard was arrested, police say well before he was even a suspect, they questioned him for hours.
"I kept asking for an attorney," Leonard said as he walked to court. "They wouldn’t give me one."
Instead, his attorney Ted Minch claims, "He was detained in excess more than two hours before he was interviewed. Four minutes into the interview he asked for counsel. That’s where it should have been broken off. It continued on for another two and a half hours."
In court, Minch explained how Leonard watched police surround and search his home that day, was taken to IMPD headquarters in handcuffs, constantly watched or kept in locked rooms and felt afraid. "We believe he was in custody," he said.
Prosecutors and police, however, insist Leonard was never in custody and although being told he could leave at any time, he stayed, giving police information they didn’t ask for.
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After the hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson explained. "He wouldn’t stop talking. He said he wanted a lawyer. Then he said he wanted to cooperate, wanted to talk. He called to police officers."
Robinson says much of the information was about his half-brother Mark Leonard. The ringleader of a plot to destroy his girlfriend’s home to collect the insurance money, Mark Leonard was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Accused co-conspirator Bob Leonard, faces almost identical charges, more than of murder and arson.
Robinson says the information in Bob Leonard’s interview is "not at all important to the case." However, defense attorneys fear that unimportant information may have led investigators more incriminating evidence against Leonard. The information could also become very important later in the trial. If Leonard chooses to testify in his own defense, prosecutors could use the interview to dispute his testimony.
John Longworth’s son and daughter-in-law were killed in the devastating explosion. He attended every day of Mark Leonard’s trial and attended Wednesday's hearing. It was the first time Longworth saw Bob Leonard in person. He wouldn’t reveal his first impressions.
Longworth attended every day of the first trial. He is already taking to prosecutors about this one.
"I am confident they will do a good job and things will end up as they should," he said quietly.
The trial was moved to Allen County to escape the pre-trial publicity in Indianapolis and endure the selection of an unbiased jury.
The police interview with Bob Leonard was recorded on video. After listening to Wednesday’s testimony, Superior Court Judge Francis Gull will watch all two and half hours of it. She expects to make a ruling in about two weeks.
Leonard’s trial is scheduled to start in January.
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