Wrongful-arrest case hinges on tale of tape

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Fri, Mar. 05, 2004

BROWARD COURTS


Wrongful-arrest case hinges on tale of tape

A civil trial accuses three officers and the Broward Sheriff's Office of the wrongful arrests of two murder suspects held in jail for 16 months before they were cleared.

By NOAH BIERMAN

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Former detective Thomas ''Bill'' Murray had a surveillance tape that could have meant the difference between life and death for a pair of murder defendants who were sitting in jail more than a year.

But the tape was in Murray's home, in a sock drawer, he testified.
(snip)

The men who are suing -- Peter ''Pete the Greek'' Roussonicolos and Stephen Rosati -- spent 16 months in jail, facing the death penalty, before they were cleared in the 1986 murder of 27-year-old Joseph Viscido Jr.

The case, built around a third man's questionable confession, collapsed when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement nabbed another pair of suspects in 1992.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/8109940.htm