Detective: Rivera not entirely truthful at first

Lawyers for Juan Rivera on Monday attacked the two confessions police say Rivera gave them in which he admitted he had raped and killed Holly Staker.

Rivera, 36, is on trial in Lake County Circuit Court for the third time for the 1992 rape and murder of the 11-year-old Waukegan girl. He has twice been convicted and sentenced to life, but new trials were ordered after both convictions.

Two former detectives testified Monday they spoke with Rivera on Oct. 30, 1992, and both times Rivera admitted killing the girl.

The defense challenged the officers to account for Rivera's state of mind when he was confessing. During the cross-examinations of the officers, Rivera's attorneys claimed their client had been questioned for 26 hours straight and suffered a "psychotic episode" in the middle of his interrogation.

Both detectives said Rivera voluntarily agreed to continue speaking and was lucid and coherent.

Donald Meadie, a Waukegan police detective for 26 years before his retirement, said he was one of two officers to question Rivera and obtained the first confession.

All of the alibis Rivera offered for his whereabouts when Staker was killed had fallen apart, and Meadie said Rivera nodded his head yes when he was asked if he had killed the girl.

After Rivera cried for awhile, Meadie said, Rivera told them Staker invited him into the apartment where she was baby sitting for two small children and asked him about sex.

The two started to have sex, Meadie said, but then quarreled when Rivera refused to continue, and Staker ultimately attacked him with a knife. Meadie said Rivera told him he took the knife from the girl, stabbed her repeatedly and fled.

Defense attorney Thomas Sullivan asked Meadie questions about Rivera being taken to a padded cell after that interview and examined by jail medical staff.

Meadie said he knew Rivera had been held for about five hours in a padded cell between his first confession and when Meadie saw him again. However, Meadie said, Rivera was calm when he returned to see him and told him he had gotten some sleep in the cell.

Meadie said he knew parts of Rivera's statement were untrue, so a second interview was done.

Former detective Lou Tessmann, also a retired Waukegan officer, said he talked to Rivera about three hours after Meadie.

Rivera provided a somewhat different story, Tessmann said, but still admitted he killed the girl.

Tessmann said Rivera admitted he was angry when Staker mocked his inability to have sex with her, and grabbed the knife from the kitchen. Rivera admitted he stabbed her several times, Tessmann said, and then decided to have sex with her but could not remember if he left behind any semen.

That admission could be pivotal to the case. Defense attorneys claim Rivera could not be the killer because DNA found inside Staker did not come from him.

In his cross-examination, defense attorney Jeffrey Urdangen was incredulous over Tessmann's rate of obtaining confessions in homicide cases.

Urdangen said that, according to the Web site of the consulting firm Tessmann now works for, Tessmann obtained a confession from 80 of the 83 homicide suspects he interviewed during his police career.

"That is a success ratio of 96 percent," Urdangen told Tessmann. "Do you know that 96 percent is better than they do in China?"

Assistant State's Attorney Eric Kalata objected and the question was stricken.

Testimony is expected to continue today.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=287394">Former inmate says Rivera pointed to himself as the killer <span class="date">[4/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287303">Rivera changed stories quickly, officer says<span class="date">[04/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=286654">Jury selection part art, part science <span class="date">[04/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=287032">Multiple changes in story led officials to accuse Rivera<span class="date">[04/16/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=286679">Staker trial begins with grim details</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>