A one-time attorney for the convicted murderer whose DNA has been linked to the 1989 rape of a Central Park jogger said yesterday that his client could have committed the brutal crime - but that he also could have made up parts of his story.
"Matias Reyes is a classic psychopath," defense attorney Richard Siracusa said in a phone interview. "He's fully capable of doing what he's confessed to. I don't think it's made up, but you never know: Guys like that - they can't separate fact from fancy."
Siracusa represented Reyes, now 31, after the delicatessen clerk was arrested in August 1989 and charged with four rapes - and the murder of one of his victims - in apartments on the Upper East Side. He took over for another court-appointed attorney, who was relieved after Reyes tried to attack him.
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Retired detective Mike Sheehan, now a reporter for Channel 5, who investigated both the jogger and the Reyes cases in 1989, has said Reyes could have been part of a larger group that attacked the woman, "or he came after them." Retired detective Burt Arroyo, who also investigated the case, does not believe Reyes was part of the original group, according to an interview with ABC-TV's "Prime Time Thursday" that is to air tonight.
Posted by ronn at September 26, 2002 09:50 AM