Diane Jobe arrived at the downtown police station Feb. 21 - worried and longing to see her 15-year-old son who had been arrested for the shooting death hours earlier of a Toledo police detective.
Four times already, he'd asked for an attorney. Now Robert Jobe sat in a holding cell.
Ms. Jobe said she was asked to go into a room with two officers.
"[They] told me that they wanted me to talk to Bobby and explain to Bobby to cooperate that it'd be better for him if he talked to them, [and] that if he talked to them, the judge would definitely know that he cooperated with them," she said.
Yesterday, as attorneys prepared for the aggravated murder trial in the death of Detective Keith Dressel, the testimony in a Lucas County Common Pleas courtroom focused not on the shooting or of physical evidence against the teenager.
Rather, it was about the short exchange between Detective Liz Kantura and Ms. Jobe.
Defense attorneys have asked Judge Charles Doneghy to suppress the teenager's statement to police at trial, noting that he'd asked for an attorney.
During a hearing on the motion yesterday, they further suggested that investigators used Ms. Jobe to coerce a statement from her son.
In a portion of a police videotape recording shown in court yesterday, Detective Jim Couch, Kermit Quinn, and the youth are in a sparsely furnished interrogation room.
The officers offer the youth pizza and cigarettes to make him comfortable. Then Detective Couch spends several minutes reading aloud Miranda rights and making certain the teenager understands them.
But before he finishes reading, the Jobe youth asks for an attorney - something that defense attorney David Klucas zeroed in on during yesterday's testimony.
"Mr. Jobe had asked for an attorney before you even finished reading him his rights," he asked Detective Couch.
"Yes," the detective said.
"I think I counted four times for sure that he asked for a lawyer," the attorney continued.
"I believe it was four," the detective agreed.
"And he was clear about his desire for a lawyer?"
"Yes, sir," the detective responded.
"Unequivocal, right?" the attorney pressed.
"Yes, sir."
But questioned by county Assistant Prosecutor Dean Mandros, Detective Couch noted that he stopped the interview and left the room after the requests for an attorney. And, he noted during other questioning by Mr. Klucas, finding or contacting an attorney for the youth is not his responsibility.
Police had no more contact with the youth until that afternoon when the Jobe youth asked to speak to police again. By that time, his mother had arrived at the station, spoken to Detective Kantura, then to her son.
Detective Kantura argued against the suggestion police used the mother to get a statement from the son. She had only a brief conversation with the mother - and only after Ms. Jobe initiated it, she said.
"She asked me if he had talked to a detective and told what happened. I said 'No, he asked for a lawyer,'•" Detective Kantura said.
The detective said she had a later conversation with Mrs. Jobe, but only after the mother talked to her son about giving a statement. "She said he wanted to tell his side of the story, that he didn't do it," the detective said. "I said 'Well, there are two sides to every story,' and I said, 'It's probably better to be truthful and forthcoming.'•"
The hearing continues at 2 p.m. Monday.
Contact Robin Erb at: robinerb@theblade.com or 419-724-6133.
First Published August 24, 2007, 11:29 a.m.
