As law enforcement investigates the alleged gang-rape of a seven-year-old Trenton girl, officials are now calling into question the the confession of two suspects and whether or not they were given under duress
The two youngest boys charged with gang-raping a 7-year-old girl last month may have been pressured into confessing and implicating others in the case, according to two people with firsthand knowledge of the police interrogations.
Two men - 20-year-old Gregory Leary and 19-year-old Timear Lewis - and three boys, ages 13, 14 and 17, have been charged with rape at the March 28 party. The girl's sister, who police say sold her to the men during a party in a vacant apartment, was charged with promoting prostitution, aggravated sexual assault and other crimes.
Four days after the party, the 13- and 14-year-old who live near the gritty public housing complex where police say the assault took place were brought in for questioning.
Kevin Main, who represents the 17-year-old and who has reviewed the police interrogations of the boys and the 15-year-old girl, told The Associated Press that investigators put words in the boys' mouths and led them to believe they wouldn't get in trouble.
"Whatever they are agreeing to, it is with the expectation that they go home when they are done," Main said.
Trenton police spokesman Sgt. Pedro Medina declined to comment on the investigation Wednesday other than to say that more arrests were expected. A spokeswoman for the Mercer County prosecutor also declined to comment.
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