Talking to Death
Simple Justice:
Humberto Pepin-Tavares, 44, thought he had a good idea. Known as Pepin on the street, he was a drug dealer in the Bronx, and caught a 12 year federal sentence for his efforts. But Pepin had a plan.
He heard about how people talked their way out of prison. He heard all the stories on the street about how guys with long sentences would tell the feds about other crimes and be given a pat on the back and a free pass out of prison. Pepin was no fool. If others could do it, so could he.
According to Newsday, shortly after his drug conviction in March, 2002, Pepin made the decision to tell investigator about some crimes. Serious crimes. Murders. Surely, this would be of interest to them. But Pepin’s plan had one flaw. You see, the murders Pepin had to offer were murders that he committed.
He talked about killing Jose Rosario in 1992 and Carlos Madrid in 1995. Then he talked about dismembering their bodies to hide the murders. And once he started talking about the murders, Pepin just couldn’t stop.
“Nothing short of a piece of duct tape across his lips could have kept [him] from confessing over and over again,” said Judge Jack Weinstein in a decision filed earlier in the case.
Pepin was, as one might suppose, charged with the murders. He offered to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison, but Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused. Pepin was tried for capital murder in the Eastern District of New York.
At trial, his attorneys, Lou Freedman and David Lewis, did their best. Pepin contended that he wasn’t a cold-blooded murderer, but someone trying to defend himself from other cold-blooded murderers. He was just better at it than they were.
In his defense, Pepin argued that…