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James Rackover, 25, of Manhattan and Lawrence Dillone, 28, of Jersey City, N.J., pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with the death of Joey Communale, 26, of Stamford. Communale, a 2008 graduate of Westhill High School, was stabbed 15 times on Nov. 13 in an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, police said. His body was found three days later in a shallow grave in Monmouth County, N.J.
The Daily News report said Dillone told police of the body’s location during a lengthy interrogation. Dillone’s lawyer, Michael Pappa, said in the report, however, that police questioned Dillone even though his lawyers instructed them not to, and violated the suspect’s Miranda rights. "“If we are right about this, it is hard to imagine how anything said to the police would be admissible as evidence for the prosecution,'' Pappa said to the Daily News.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office could face legal issues if statements made by Dillone are found to be inadmissible, the report said.
No suspects have yet been charged with murder. Rackover and Dillone pleaded not guilty to charges of concealment of a human body, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. A third suspect, 29-year-old Max Gemma of Oceanport, N.Y., has also been charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. He has also pleaded not guilty.
Click here for the Daily News story.
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