Defense Claims
Both Gray and Cummins, who was initially a suspect, have said that they were physically abused during their interrogations. Cummins did receive a $150,000 settlement from the City of St. Louis. Gray said that he confessed during the interrogations to raping the two girls so the police would stop beating him.
Gray's defense lawyers also argued that the prosecutor, Nels Moss, had made allusions to Charles Manson, when he described Gray's character witnesses as similar to "followers of Charles Manson." Moss also did not disclose the settlement with Cummins to the defense, since at the time there was no suit and therefore no settlement. They also argued that it was inappropriate for the prosecutor to tell the jury that theirs was not the final word in the case.
Gray's father claims that the conviction and sentence were racially motivated.
Read more about this topic: Marlin Gray
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)