LEWISTON (AP) — A judge has thrown out a videotaped confession made by a 13-year-old boy charged with setting a fire in Lewiston that destroyed three apartment buildings and left 75 people homeless.
District Court Judge Rick Lawrence ruled Wednesday that the confession should be suppressed because the boy wasn’t read his rights until nearly two hours into the police interrogation. Lawrence further wrote that the boy’s taped confession to his mother in the police interview room following the interrogation is not admissible at trial.
The April 29 fire was the first of three major fires in downtown Lewiston in just over a week last spring that destroyed nine buildings and left nearly 200 people homeless.
Another 13-year-old boy and two Lewiston men were charged in the other fires.
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