An attorney for a suspect and an "official with direct knowledge of the [police] interrogation" say that the two youngest suspects accused of gang raping a 7-year-old girl were coerced into giving confessions. The Trenton, NJ authorities arrested five suspects, but an official told the AP that the 13-year-old suspect "cried for nearly half the interview and repeatedly asked for his mother"—and the boy even allegedly said, "I should just make up a story to get it over with."

Besides the 13-year-old, Gregory Leary, 20, and Tiemear Lewis, 19, were charged, as were a 14-year-old and 17-year-old. Lawyer Kevin Main, who represents the 17-year-old suspect, also said that investigators led the boys to believe they wouldn't get into trouble. (According to the Trenton Times, Main "has access to police evidence not yet turned over to the attorneys of the adult defendants" because he "is legally entitled to the evidence to prepare for the state's upcoming motion to try his client as an adult.") He and the official say that investigators pitted the 13-year-old and 14-year-old—who are good friends—against each other:

According to the official, the 13-year-old told police that Gregory Leary didn't touch the 7-year-old either, but by the end of the interview, he changed his story and said Leary had raped her. The boys are learning disabled and the 14-year-old can't read or write, the official said. The 13-year-old boy often seemed confused during the interview, the source said....

The 14-year-old boy, whose mother and aunt were alternately present during his interview with police, told investigators that if others said he did the crime, he must have done it. The aunt told the boy that since he is a juvenile, he wouldn't be in much trouble.


Main also questioned whether the 7-year-old, whose 15-year-old stepsister allegedly sold her for sex, was assaulted, "From what I saw in the report, when I compare that to what police say the defendants admitted to -- it's entirely inconsistent. I would have expected injuries and other obvious evidence." Last week, Leary's lawyer questioned whether the child was raped; now Leary sister tells the AP, "If a gang raped that little girl, I don't think she would be alive."