McDaniel Note Complains About Police Questioning Techniques — Transcript

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1. 0:00Well, after his guilty plea in the
2. 0:01murder of Mercer law student Lauren
3. 0:03Giddings, we continue to get new
4. 0:05glimpses into the psyche of Steven
5. 0:06McDaniel. Tonight, a new letter
6. 0:08handwritten by McDaniel and given to the
7. 0:11judge the day he pleaded guilty to
8. 0:12killing and dismembering Giddings. And
9. 0:14in this one, he paints himself as a
10. 0:16victim of police intimidation. In a
11. 0:19neatly handwritten two-page document
12. 0:21filled with small lettering, Steven
13. 0:23McDaniel outlines his experiences with
14. 0:25making police. He complains that police
15. 0:28yelled at him and intimidated him in an
16. 0:30interrogation room for hours during the
17. 0:32early stages of the investigation and
18. 0:34wouldn't even let him go to the restroom
19. 0:36without permission. He also talks about
20. 0:38this interview with a WGXA reporter once
21. 0:41they did let him go where he first
22. 0:43learned Gidding's body had been found.
23. 0:46Had you heard Had you seen anything
24. 0:48there?
25. 0:51Had you seen anything there?
26. 0:53I mean, we don't know if this is the
27. 0:54same person. You know what I mean? like
28. 0:56they took out a body there earlier. We
29. 0:57don't know if it's the same person or
30. 0:58not. So that's why we're trying to ask
31. 1:00people if they know who lived there.
32. 1:04Are you okay, sir?
33. 1:06I think I need to sit down.
34. 1:07Okay.
35. 1:08McDaniel says he collapsed from the
36. 1:10shock of that news because even though
37. 1:12he'd killed Giddings, quote, "My mental
38. 1:14state was such that I was unaware of her
39. 1:16death." McDaniel details being so upset
40. 1:20he suffered a seizure and required
41. 1:22medical help. When he came to again, he
42. 1:24says workers with the DA's office and
43. 1:26detectives took him from the emergency
44. 1:28workers and moved him into a police
45. 1:30mobile command center. He says he still
46. 1:32had impaired vision, numb extremities,
47. 1:35and a severe headache, and pleaded for
48. 1:37medical care, believing his life may be
49. 1:39in danger, but was only told that the
50. 1:41EMT could look at him if he'd allow
51. 1:43police to search his apartment. He says
52. 1:45even after they got into his apartment,
53. 1:47police never gave him medical care.
54. 1:49McDaniel says later he was transferred
55. 1:51to the detective bureau and kept under
56. 1:53constant armed guard and was questioned,
57. 1:55yelled at, and insulted for hours.
58. 1:59He says, "At one point, detectives joke
59. 2:00that he may be sexually assaulted in
60. 2:02prison."
61. 2:04McDaniel wraps up by saying, "I do not
62. 2:06say these things to excuse my own
63. 2:08conduct. I say them because they are the
64. 2:10truth, and no other party involved in
65. 2:12these events will ever tell these
66. 2:14truths. These facts are important
67. 2:16because they recount a small portion of
68. 2:17the misconduct of the Mon police, that
69. 2:20part known to me," unquote. The
70. 2:23statement ends with a line from a Latin
71. 2:24poet that basically translate, "Who's
72. 2:27watching the watchmen?"
73. 2:30Purpose of the letter isn't clear, as is
74. 2:32whether McDaniel thought it would make
75. 2:34any difference after he'd already
76. 2:35confessed to the murder and
77. 2:37dismemberment of Lauren Giddings. It was
78. 2:40entered into evidence as an addendum to
79. 2:42the motion to suppress evidence. And we
80. 2:43do have a copy of it on our website,
81. 2:45wgxa.tv,