Thirteen years, seven months and thirteen days. That is the time Lawrence Rubin Montoya spent in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Montoya was sentenced to life in prison in November 2000 after he was allegedly pressured by Denver police officers into confessing to murdering a Denver school teacher. In June 2014, his conviction was overturned thanks to DNA retesting of evidence.
Now, the 31 year old is suing the city of Denver and members of the city’s police department in federal court for $30 million, citing the interrogation process and later failures by the District Attorney’s office.
It was January 10, 2000, when then-14-year-old Montoya was taken to the Denver Police Department Headquarters as part of the investigation of the death of Emily Johnson. She had been beaten shortly after arriving home from
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As the lawsuit filed by Montoya’s lawyers states:
During the course of the more than two and a half hour interrogation, Lawrence was coerced and intimidated by Defendants who used, among other techniques known to cause false confessions including false evidence ploy, manipulation, minimization, threats, false promises and other coercive tactics such as, cornering Lawrence against the wall in his chair, getting in his face, banging on the table, yelling at him, standing over him, telling him he is not going home, telling him he is going to prison for life, telling him he should be afraid, and telling him to say goodbye to his mother.
Montoya denied being at Johnson’s home or stealing her car 65 times before breaking down in tears and confessing. This confession was the sole basis for the “probable cause” of his arrest, despite later evidence still showing no direct connection between Montoya and the assault.
According to the lawsuit, one detective in the interrogation knew Montoya was not honest in his confession:
Defendant Jonathan Priest suggests he knows Lawrence is lying, yet nonetheless,