Florida teenager charged with killing British pair 'confessed to cellmate'

Source: The Guardian

A youth accused of shooting dead two British holidaymakers in a crime-ridden Florida neighbourhood confessed to a fellow inmate shortly after he was arrested, according to newly released court documents.

Shawn Tyson, 16, has denied killing James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, as they staggered drunkenly through Newtown, Sarasota, in the early hours of 16 April after a night out drinking.

But, according to prosecutors, Tyson told the prisoner: "Yeah, I did it" only 24 hours after the shooting. The inmate said he asked what had happened and Tyson replied: "It's trill," – a slang word for "gangster".

In a recorded phone call from the Sarasota county jail to another witness known only as "brother", Tyson apparently lamented the discovery by detectives of bullets at his house of the same calibre used to murder the Britons. "They found the bullets. That's the only thing that's going to fuck me up," he told the friend.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/14/florida-teenager-shawn-tyson-confession

I hope this sociopath gets life imprisonment with no chance of parole and ends up with a cellmate named Bubba.

...

that he got caught.

If he wouldn't have been caught some other innocent might be dead. I am for hard labor and no parole in these cases. Why? I want them to spend the rest of their lives miserable, the death penalty does not stop them or give them pause for thought.

you snuffed out two lives because you are pathetically too weak. Enjoy bending over, there's your thrill, I mean trill.

If they have tape and corroborating evidence that's one thing--and there is no expectation of privacy in jail house conversations unless its with your lawyer.

However jail house confessions to fellow inmates are notoriously unreliable. The other inmates have a built in motive to fabricate (more favorable treatment) and more often than not are more than willing to make things up at the suggestion of investigators.

No other comment on the crime, or the other evidence is intended, and my comment should absolutely NOT be construed as an argument that he might in fact be innocent.

Jailhouse confessions are notoriously unreliable.

I do think the dude is guilty as sin, though.

They may not even go with the jailhouse testimony unless the guy who was 'in' was in on small charges (and already or soon to be released on his own without a potential deal).