May 19, 2009 8:22 pm US/Eastern
Accused Murderess Says Cops Forced Confession
Says She Was Told To "Shut the 'F' Up" When Asked For A Lawyer
MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) ―
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Trial is underway for Maria Catabay who is accused of masterminding the murders of Dr. Paul Jarrett and his son in 2003.
CBS
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Dr. Paul Jarrett, M.D. and Gregg Jarrett R.N. at the 1984 Olympic Summer Games held in Los Angeles, California.
Aleta Jarrett/CBS
For a second consecutive day, Maria Catabay took the witness stand and insisted her confession to involvement in a burglary and double murder was a lie, coerced from her by Miami-Dade homicide detectives.
Catabay testified that when she asked for an attorney, a detective told her to "shut the 'f' up."
Catabay is charged with felony murder in the July, 2003 execution-style killings of her employer, Psychiatrist Paul Jarrett and Jarrett's son, Greg. Catabay was not there when the victims were shot dead in the doctor's waterfront home in Coral Gables, but prosecutors allege she sent her boyfriend, Juan Carlos Fernandez, and convicted triggerman Jose Barco to the house as part of an effort to cover up her embezzlement from Jarrett's medical practice.
In two video-taped statements to police in February, 2004, Catabay admitted that she knew her boyfriend was going to the victims' home with the intention of retrieving a letter she had written that incriminated her in the embezzlement scheme.
"All the things you said on those video tapes are not true?" asked defense attorney Lorna Owens.
"Those statements are not true, Ma'am," Catabay replied. "I was scared. They were telling me terrible things were going to happen to my children if I didn't help them come up with this story that would fit their theory" of what happened.
Catabay said detectives who questioned her for 20 hours promised that if she admitted her involvement in planning the burglary, she would not be charged with murder.
Catabay conceded on cross-examination that she signed a detailed confession of her involvement in planning the burglary at the Jarrett home, but that it was the product of coercion. "With the pressure on me, I would have signed anything they put in front of me. I told them what they wanted to hear."
When reminded by prosecutor David Waxman that she waived her right to remain silent on six separate times during her interrogation, Catabay said, "I didn't have a choice, Sir."
The trial before Circuit Judge Stanford Blake is expected to go to the jury on Wednesday.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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