Dual Confessions Cloud Georgia Child-Killing Case

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block.

The district attorney in Carrollton, Georgia is facing a real dilemma. It has to do with the murder of an eight-year-old girl two years ago. Shortly after the killing a 12-year-old neighbor confessed, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sent to juvenile detention. Well, last month a judge sent the boy home after an 18-year-old said he committed the murder.

But the 18-year-old has now retracted his confession, and as Susanna Capelouto of Georgia Public Broadcasting reports, the DA in Carrollton says it's going to be difficult to convict anyone in the case.

SUSANNA CAPELOUTO reporting:

Who really killed Amy Yates? That's a question on everyone's mind in Carrollton, Georgia a town about 50 miles west of Atlanta. Pete Skandalakis is the district attorney.

Mr. PETE SKANDALAKIS (District attorney, Carrollton, Georgia): You know you have this, the tragic death of an eight-year-old child who just goes out to play and deliver some invitations to her party and within an hour, she's missing and gone and then you find out she's been strangled to death.

CAPELOUTO: The body of Amy Yates was found April 26, 2004 in a ditch near the mobile home where she lived. The killing shocked the community and still reverberates two years later, says Skandalakis.

Mr. SKANDALAKIS: People just are understandably very upset about that, so you know, you want to solve this case, you want to have the answers.

CAPELOUTO: But finding the answers, he says, is not easy.

Mr. SKANDALAKIS: What we have now are two individuals who have admitted to the crime, two individuals who have now denied they committed the crime. Both of them are plausible no matter how you look at it, so that makes it difficult.

CAPELOUTO: One confession was taken two years ago from a 12-year-old neighbor. JA is a juvenile and cannot be identified. His parents gave permission for him to be interviewed. JA says he was questioned by police.

JA: They kept asking me, did you all do it? I was like, no, I didn't do it so just leave me alone. And they was like, you're lying.

CAPELOUTO: JA was interrogated for about three hours with neither his parents nor a lawyer present. He says, under intense pressure he just made up a story.

JA: So I was like, okay man, I did it. She ran into my arm, she fell down the hill and just, just leave me alone, let me go home.

CAPELOUTO: JA pled to a lesser charge and spent almost two years in juvenile detention, but this past February an 18-year-old named Chris Gossett confessed to the crime. He was also a neighbor of Amy Yates and said he had a religious conversion. The Carroll County Sheriff's office made this videotape of Gossett's confession, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information request by JA's lawyer.

Mr. CHRIS GOSSETT (Defendant): I didn't let her do nothing. All I did was hold her down, except put my hand over her mouth.

Unidentified man: Okay, where were y'all at when you put your hand over her mouth?

Mr. GOSSETT: In the, sitting in the, like, in the middle of the woods.

CAPELOUTO: On the tape, Gossett also reveals details that were unknown to the public, like the location of Amy Yates's notebook or the fact that her pants were undone. After a judge saw the tape he ordered that JA be released and sent home, saying it was unlikely the juvenile committed the crime. However, there are also problems with Chris Gossett's confession.

According to authorities, Gossett has an IQ of about 60, which means he is considered to be mentally retarded. So the Sheriff's office ordered a forensic psychiatrist to evaluate the confession and he found it to be unreliable. In addition three weeks after his confession, Chris Gossett recanted. As far as Carroll County Sheriff's Deputy Brett Robinson is concerned, the case is closed and JA, the 12-year-old originally arrested for the crime, is the murderer.

Deputy BRETT ROBINSON (Carroll County Sheriff's Department): We have basically spared not one dime to try to find out who the true killer is of Amy Yates. I think I know and I think the person responsible for the death of the child has been in custody for two years.

CAPELOUTO: But the family of Amy Yates doesn't agree. Tom Yates is her father.

Mr. TOM YATES (Father of Amy Yates): I would like, you know, for the DA to review the evidence that they have now and, you know, do the right thing, which is, would be to convict the 18-year-old.

CAPELOUTO: So now the district attorney has one confession that might have been coerced and another one that might be fiction. There were no witnesses or physical evidence like finger prints of DNA. District attorney Pete Skandalakis says with Gossett's confession now on tape it would be difficult to convict anybody.

Mr. SKANDALAKIS: And what it does is it provides a defense for the juvenile that the juvenile may not have committed the act. If you charge the 18-year-old, the juvenile's admissions provide a defense for the 18-year-old that he may not have committed the act.

CAPELOUTO: Skandalakis could charge either boy or he could just drop the case and that would mean no justice for Amy Yates. He is expected to make a decision soon.

For NPR News, I'm Susanna Capelouto in Atlanta.

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