[MI] Confession to killing Police Sgt.'s wife Rose Cobb stands

CONFESSION STANDS IN MURDER OF DETROIT COP'S WIFE
Associated Press
By ED WHITE (AP)
Oct. 17, 2009
[Excerpts] A judge on Friday refused to throw out a confession by a self-described hit man who is charged with killing the wife of a Detroit police officer, a crucial ruling that clears the way for his first trial in eight fatal shootings. Wayne County Circuit Judge Craig Strong said nothing was illegal about the tactics used to get a detailed statement from Vincent Smothers. Since summer, Strong watched portions of the videotaped interview and heard testimony from the defendant and police... Smothers, 28, is charged with shooting Rose Cobb on Dec. 26, 2007. He told police that she was sitting in her van when he broke a window with a tire iron and shot her in the head. Smothers told police that Cobb's husband, David Cobb, arranged the killing. The sergeant, who was never charged, hanged himself in September 2008... Smothers was arrested 18 months ago outside his home in Shelby Township, a Detroit suburb. While in custody for hours, he gave an extraordinary series of confessions in eight fatal shootings. All victims except Cobb were involved in drugs. "I don't have a profession," he told police. "I kill people for money." Smothers told police he was paid $60,000 over two years. He said he stopped being a hit man after Cobb's killing. "My stomach was in knots," he told police. "I felt like she was innocent. ... All the rest were dope dealers." [Full article here]

ALLEGED HITMAN'S STATEMENTS ADMISSIBLE IN MURDER TRIAL
Detroit Free Press
By Ben Schmitt
Oct. 16, 2009
A Wayne County Circuit judge ruled today that police statements made by alleged hitman Vincent Smothers are admissible in the upcoming trial in which Smothers is accused of killing the wife of a former Detroit police sergeant... Smothers is accused of first-degree murder in connection with the Dec. 26, 2007, shooting death of Rose Cobb, who was married to former Detroit Police Sgt. David Cobb. Marzell Black, 21, of Detroit is also accused of solicitation of murder for acting as the alleged middleman in the killing. David Cobb was also arrested on suspicion that he contracted his wife’s killing, but subsequently released. Six months later he hanged himself in a Sterling Heights park. Both Smothers and Black told police Cobb hired Smothers to kill Rose Cobb, according to the court file. Black acted as the go-between and drove Smothers to the killing site, a CVS pharmacy on Jefferson, according to a police report... [Full article here]

LEADS ARE TO BE REVISITED IN HIT MAN CASE
Task force to look into drug dealer claims
Detroit Free Press
By Ben Schmitt
Oct. 18, 2009
[Excerpts] An elite multi-jurisdictional task force taking a fresh look at the unsolved Tamara Greene murder will also revisit possible leads in the case of accused hit man Vincent Smothers. The investigation into Smothers, who is awaiting trial on eight murder charges, reportedly stalled last year after Detroit police Detective Ira Todd was transferred out of the task force. Todd sued the city shortly afterward, alleging he was kicked out because he had established a possible link between Smothers and a reputed drug dealer in Lexington, Ky., who bragged to Kentucky police officers that he had personal and professional connections to former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick... Smothers was arrested in April 2008 and is awaiting trial on a slew of cases including the killing of Rose Cobb, who was married to a Detroit police sergeant who may have contracted her hit. [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence law enforcement fatality fatalities murder washington plot hit michigan state]