Lawyers question detective in Lacey trial

Lawyers in Caleb Lacey's murder trial did a careful dance Friday, questioning the detective who prosecutors say elicited a confession from Lacey during a March 20 interrogation, but carefully avoiding the subject of the confession itself, which the judge suppressed before the trial.

During a full day of testimony, Nassau Detective Carl Re described what he said were inconsistencies in the then-19-year-old volunteer firefighter's account of his whereabouts on the morning of the Feb. 19, 2009, North Lawrence fire.

Lacey's neighbor, Morena Vanegas, 46, and three of her children, Saul Preza, 19, Andrea, 10, and Susanna, 9, were killed in the blaze.

Lacey, now 20, is facing arson and murder charges in connection with the blaze.

Re obeyed a ruling by Judge Jerald Carter and did not discuss anything that happened after Lacey invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself about halfway through the eight-hour March 20 interrogation. Prosecutors say that portion of the interview included Lacey's confession to setting the fire.

Carter had previously thrown out as evidence a videotape of that interview because the sound quality was poor.

Lacey's lawyer, Christopher Cassar of Huntington, has said his client is innocent and originally he said the confession was coerced. Recently, Cassar has denied that Lacey ever confessed at all.

During a break in Re's testimony, relatives of the fire victims spoke about what they've been through in the last year.

Enrique Lugo, a spokesman for the Vanegas family, said he is outraged that Cassar has implied that Edit Vanegas, Morena Vanegas's husband, who escaped the fire with two of the couple's sons, might be the one who set it.

As Lugo spoke, Vanegas stood by his side and wailed in grief. "The pain really hurts me," said Leonel Vanegas, now 8, one of the boys who escaped the fire.

Re testified that under intense questioning, Lacey admitted that he had lied to his girlfriend, his father and police in the days after the fire. Re said Lacey admitted that he made up a story about Preza trying to rape his girlfriend and also admitted he told his girlfriend that he had "stepped over the bodies" of the people killed in the fire when in fact he had never entered the building.

"I said, 'The facts of the case are indication that you're not telling the truth.' "

During cross-examination, Cassar questioned Re about whether he lied to Lacey during the interview.

"Did you tell him you had no eyewitness?" He asked. "Did you tell him you had no proof?"

Re denied lying to Lacey.