CONNECTICUT CORRUPTION: AND THE REAL CROOK HAS NEVER BEEN CAUGHT...

If ghosts are the souls of persons who die with unfinished business chaining them to this world, then Barbara Gibbons must surely be one. Not only was the 51-year-old Falls Village woman brutally murdered on a fall night 32 years ago, but her young son, Peter Reilly, was initially charged with and convicted of the crime. With his later exoneration, the case became unsolved and, presumably, her killer still walks among us......

The state police focused their attention on Mr. Reilly almost immediately after the murder. In a highly controversial move, they segregated the young boy from his adult supporters and interrogated the impressionable youth for 24 hours without benefit of counsel. Eventually the boy "confessed," parroting back what the police told him. "We have an eight-hour tape of that final interrogation," said Mr. Connery. "It is the most valuable example of brainwashing I have ever heard."

Almost immediately, however, the community became alarmed at the state police tactics. Because Mr. Reilly was a slight boy, quiet and naive, most who knew him disbelieved the charges. A legal defense fund was started and noted civil rights attorney Catherine Roraback was his counsel. Nevertheless, Mr. Reilly was convicted of manslaughter in 1974, a conviction based almost solely on his confession.

Efforts to free him redoubled following the conviction and high-profile celebrities such as playwright Arthur Miller and author William Styron became involved. A private investigator was hired and information began to mount up. "Judge [John] Speziale, although bewildered by how this 18-year-old could have done the crime, believed him guilty because of the confession," said Mr. Connery. "The judge had suggested a lesser plea, but Peter wouldn't do it. He knew he was innocent. At trial, Judge Speziale became more and more persuaded that this was an innocent young man, and [eventually] he did an action that is very, very rare and overturned the jury verdict. He said it had been a gross miscarriage of justice."

The action left Mr. Reilly vulnerable to a second trial, but as preparations for the trial were underway the state prosecutor, John F. Bianchi, died of a heart attack. In his files, according to Mr. Connery, his successor found "extremely powerful exculpatory evidence" that exonerated Mr. Reilly. "The prosecutor knew that it was there," Mr. Connery said. "The police knew it was there, but nonetheless, they went ahead and got him convicted."

"This was a momentous event in Connecticut history and remains so today because the police never brought themselves to admit the mistake and to solve the case correctly," continued Mr. Connery. "Nationally, it's the classic false-confession case."

The author has since been involved in a number of false-conviction cases. He estimates the rate of false convictions to be five percent nationwide, and said that "tens of thousands" of persons could be serving sentences for crimes they did not commit....

Mr. Estabrook briefly reviewed his newspaper's role in the Reilly case. One of his editorials on the case won the International Golden Quill Award of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. Although over the years he harshly criticized the state police performance in the case, he was more conciliatory Sunday. "The State Police came out of the Reilly case with a very black eye," he said, "but there are many fine young men and women in the state police who work hard for the people of Connecticut. The bad actors in this melodrama were not motivated to be bad actors. John Bianchi didn't start out to convict an innocent man-he really believed it. Why? Because the doctrine in the state police is that the confession is everything."

Still the editor said, "We were as astonished as anyone else at the outpouring of Peter's friends and neighbors and we became early on convinced that this young many could not have done what he was accused of doing."

The final speaker was Mr. Reilly himself, now 50 years old and a Tolland resident. Since his exoneration he has worked as an EMT, in sales and marketing and is a semi-professional guitarist. He continues to work with Mr. Connery to learn who killed his mother-a crime police still say he did-and often talks to young people in school about his experience. "I continue to try to move forward to an end of this, when people will know who committed this crime," he said. "I've always felt since this happened to me that something has been missed in teaching young people how to handle themselves. It is more important than ever that young people know their rights. They shouldn't feel that asking for an attorney would be an admission of guilt. That was something they tried to persuade me to feel and it is very important for young people not to be embarrassed or afraid to ask for an attorney if things are running out of control."

He confessed to having moments of bitterness, but said his work with young people provides a healthy outlet for these feelings. "All I can do is try to move forward and make some good of it, and particularly to solve this case," he said. Then he showed a flash of the warm personality that won him so many supporters. A wide grin spread across his face and his voice filled with emotion. "It is so good to see you all again," he exclaimed.

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