Judge upholds taped robbery confession

A Cary man's confession on video to charges he beat a convenience store clerk with a metal pipe during a January robbery can be played before a jury, a McHenry County judge ruled Thursday.

Rejecting Daniel T. Charneski's claims that detectives coerced and intimidated the confession out of him, Judge Joseph Condon refused to suppress the evidence and said the recording shows him to be anything but frightened when questioned by police.

"The defendant appears about as cocky as anyone I can imagine in that circumstance," the judge said. "It appears he is trying to show the detectives he is in control of the situation, not them."

The ruling is a blow to Charneski's defense as he prepares to perhaps face trial next year on armed robbery and aggravated battery charges stemming from a Jan. 9 holdup of a White Hen Pantry in Crystal Lake.

The charges allege Charneski, accompanied by a second man, entered the store that night and struck a female clerk over the head with a pipe before taking $735 from the cash register and fleeing. The 20-year-old Cary man has pleaded not guilty.

Charneski testified Thursday that detectives from Crystal Lake and Cary accosted him before the confession while a narcotics agent promised him he would not be charged if he told what he knew of the robbery and then cooperated in a drug case against another man.

"I felt like I had to (give a statement) as part of the sequence of getting out of there," he said.

Detectives, however, testified that no one threatened Charneski or made any promises he would be let free if he talked.

In his recorded confession, played in court Thursday, Charneski is shown reading through his Miranda rights and signing a document indicating he understood them and was willing to speak with investigators.

Charneski, who faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty of the robbery charge, is scheduled to return to court Jan. 7 for a pretrial status hearing.