A local man charged with first-degree murder is asking for a motion to suppress his hearing after corrected audio from the interrogation video has been brought into evidence.
Wesley Lex Leverett, 25, was charged with murdering Barry Cole in February 2017 after admitting to stabbing his 55-year-old friend in the back following an alleged remark Cole made about Leverett’s mother.
The beginning of the video, which contained the investigators reading Leverett his Miranda Rights lacked audio for unknown reasons.
The audio was resolved and the corrected video was given to the defense, plaintiffs, witnesses and Judge Bart Stanley.
The video showing the investigators reading Leverett his Miranda Rights led the defense to argue Leverett didn’t fully understand the rights he was being read, and the investigators had used psychological techniques for coercion to gain a guilty plea.
Investigator Stuart Colwell and Dr. Stephen Montgomery, a forensic psychiatrist from Vanderbilt, took the stand for cross interrogation in General Sessions court on Wednesday.
The defense used the facts of Leverett having multiple psychological illnesses and an under-developed intellect to claim Leverett didn’t understand the rights he was waving and what he was admitting to. Dr. Montgomery claimed Leverett was more vulnerable to be confused and manipulated through psychological techniques of coercion.
Investigator Colwell said he didn’t see anything indicating that Mr. Leverett didn’t understand the things being said to him, that he wasn’t impaired, wasn’t lacking necessary medication or any other sign he wasn’t fully comprehending the rights being read to him line by line by TBI agent Stephen Huntley during the interrogation. Leverett answered yes to understanding each individual right.
Judge Bart Stanley will be reviewing the videotape before making his decision regarding if Leverett was able to understand his rights and wasn’t manipulated into admission.
District Attorney plaintiff, Randall Gilliam, believes the tape will not interfere with the original first-degree murder charge.
