Serial killer probably innocent, recants his confessions after 20 years

[Pat]

Swedish serial killer granted new trial
Published: 17 Dec 09 10:51 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/23898/20091217/

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Convicted Swedish serial murderer Thomas Quick has been granted a new trial for the 1988 killing of a tourist in Dalarna in central Sweden after he recanted his confessions to several killings.


•Confessed serial killer requests retrial (20 Apr 09)
•Quick retracts serial murder confessions (15 Dec 08)
•Self-confessed serial killer 'should not have been convicted' (22 Nov 06)


Quick has been convicted in six different trials for the murders of eight people. During police questioning, he has confessed to committing more than 20 murders, which he claims he committed in Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

But in several programmes broadcast last year by Sveriges Television (SVT) journalist Hannes Råstam, Quick has taken back all of his previous confessions.

In April, his lawyers filed a formal request with the Svea Court of Appeal seeking a new trial for a case involving the murder of 24-year-old Yenon Levi, an Israeli tourist who was found dead near the side of a deserted forest road in Dalarna in 1988.

In documents accompanying the petition, Quick's lawyer Thomas Olsson argued that a number of mistakes took place during the police investigation of Levi's murder.

"The conviction is based on a confession from a mentally ill and drugged person. In addition, relevant investigative material was withheld from the court," Olsson told the TT news agency when he filed the petition, which also included the name of another possible culprit in Levi's killing.

There was also information from witnesses that the alternative assailant, who is said to have strong anti-Semitic views, was connected to Levi.

The appeals court said that the new evidence presented by Quick creates doubts about whether he is indeed guilty of the crime for which he has been convicted.

The court went on to say that there are sufficient grounds to try the case once again in order to revisit the question of Quick's responsibility for the crime and thus granted a retrial.

Quick, who has since changed his name to Sture Bergwall, has been indicated that he will petition for retrials for each of the eight murders for which he's been convicted.


TT/The Local ([email protected]/08 656 6518)

The families of some of the victims never accepted that he was guilty and they have been fighting for this for a long time. He's a mythomaniac, but not a serial killer. Which is to say the perpetrators of 8 murders have been walking free for 20 years.  

[Caliga]

Interesting, especially as it relates to another thread (think it was the one about Malthus interviewing the geezer who claims to have killed a guy during WWII) in which Beeb and I were musing over whether a confession alone would get someone convicted, even if there was no other evidence of any sort.

I wonder if that's exactly what happened here?

[Pat]

Yes, there is no technical evidence linking him to any of the murders. But there might also have been a desire among law enforcement to "help him remember" with revealing questions etc, which meant he was able to puzzle together credible confessions. He was convicted because he knew things about the crime scenes he shouldn't have known about.

Same policeman in charge of the questioning leading up to his convictions, same prosecutor prosecuting him and same defense lawyer for all his convictions except two.

[Martinus]

Yes, there is no technical evidence linking him to any of the murders. But there might also have been a desire among law enforcement to "help him remember" with revealing questions etc, which meant he was able to puzzle together credible confessions. He was convicted because he knew things about the crime scenes he shouldn't have known about.

Same policeman in charge of questioning, same prosecutor prosecuting him and same defense lawyer for all his convictions except two.

Wasn't that shit on season 1 of Dexter?

I bet they sent in a Latina with a human head to make him recant.

[Caliga]

I bet they sent in a Latina with a human head to make him recant.

What, so most Latinas don't have human heads now!?  What next, they have dog heads? OK HERODOTUS 

[dps]

Interesting, especially as it relates to another thread (think it was the one about Malthus interviewing the geezer who claims to have killed a guy during WWII) in which Beeb and I were musing over whether a confession alone would get someone convicted, even if there was no other evidence of any sort.

I wonder if that's exactly what happened here?

Well, it appears that in this case, they at least had a body.