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From: catpandaddy on 10 Jun 2010 18:13
http://www.omaha.com/article/20100611/NEWS97/706119909

WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Hamilton County jury on Thursday found
15-year-old Edgar Concepcion Jr. guilty of first-degree murder in the
death of his 3-year-old cousin.

The jury also found Concepcion guilty of one count of first-degree
sexual abuse, one count of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of
child endangerment resulting in bodily injury.

Concepcion didn't react when the verdicts were read, but he wept
afterward when relatives embraced him.

Jurors received the case Wednesday afternoon. They deliberated most of
Thursday before returning their verdict late in the afternoon.

Concepcion was accused of sexually abusing and killing 3-year-old
Krystel Banes at his family's home in Charles City on July 10.
Concepcion was tried in Hamilton County on a change of venue.

In the state's closing arguments on Wednesday, Assistant Attorney
General Becky Goettsch said Concepcion was steeped in sexual frustration
and anger last summer, and he acted on those feelings by killing Krystel
as he baby-sat with her and her older brother, Banjo.

Goettsch said Concepcion admitted to investigators during a videotaped
interrogation that he sexually assaulted Krystel and choked her.

But in her closing arguments, defense attorney Judy O'Donohoe questioned
the validity of that confession on both linguistic and psychological
grounds.

O'Donohoe said police questioned Concepcion, who is most fluent in the
Philippine language Ilonggo, without an interpreter except for his
16-year-old sister, Bonita. She said Bonita Concepcion also had trouble
understanding what investigators were asking.

O'Donohoe also said police already had a theory about what caused
Krystel's death. She said investigators asked leading questions when
interrogating a tired and scared Concepcion and wouldn't stop until he
told them what he thought they wanted to hear.

Concepcion's sentencing is scheduled for July 19 in Floyd County
District Court in Charles City. He will be held at the Central Iowa
Detention Center in Eldora until sentencing.
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