According to [Jose Anibal Martinez], the detective slapped him, called him a liar and threatened to send him to prison. Eventually, Martinez, a day laborer, broke down and cried. Then he signed a confession, admitting that he accidentally shot and killed Cruz, 44, on July 31, 2001, while they were examining a .38-caliber pistol.

The backdrop to the committee's work are cases between 1995 and 2001 involving Martinez and four other men who police say confessed to four separate murders. Juries acquitted the defendants in three of these cases. The five men, strangers to one another, described a practice used by the Nassau homicide detectives that critics say is coercive and increases the chances of obtaining false confessions.

1) NEWSDAY PHOTO / DICK YARWOOD - An interrogation room at the Nassau County homicide squad office in Mineola, 2) Newsday Photo, 2001 / Nelson Ching - Jose Anibal Martinez, left, explaining why he signed a false confession while being interrogated. 3) NEWSDAY PHOTO / DICK YARWOOD - [Shonnard Lee], left, with his lawyer, [Anthony Grandinette], won $2 million from Nassau County. 4) Photo by John Dunn - [Blair Garner], shown with attorney Dennis Lemke in 1997, was later cleared of murder charges.