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Alleged Confession At Issue In Cold Case Killing

FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- The attorney for a North Dakota man accused of killing his neighbor in Minnesota nearly two decades ago says he plans to have an expert on false confessions testify at Clarence Burcham's murder trial.

The 46-year-old Center man is charged in the death of Sharon Stafford, who was found dead in a Moorhead, Minn., mobile home park in November 1993. He wasn't charged until the summer of 2009, when police allege that Burcham admitted in an interview with a cold case detective to strangling the 26-year-old woman with an electrical cord after she called him retarded.

A judge last month ruled the interrogation admissible at trial. The defense had asked for Burcham's alleged statements to be suppressed, saying he was coerced.

The Forum says Burcham's trial is scheduled for June.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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