False police promise overturns murder conviction

When police promise a suspect that he won’t be prosecuted if he tells them the truth, and he does, can he still be prosecuted? Yes, a state appeals court said Friday, as long as the promise didn’t come from the district attorney. But anything he said to the officers can’t be used as evidence against him. Based on that reasoning, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Diego overturned Fabian Perez’s murder conviction and life-without-parole sentence for the robbery and murder of a taxi driver in 2003. The ruling doesn’t affect the death sentence of another defendant, Christopher Jasso, who was convicted of firing the fatal shots. The victim,