Police detectives Rick Rice and Rich Martin of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department interviewed several people. Under great pressure from the media for a suspect in this gruesome murder, they turned to Johnny Purvis, the town "weirdo". They yelled and intimidated him at his interrogation and his mother heard it. Purvis was very shaken by the experience, and his mother was determined that he would talk to the police no more. But the detectives, undeterred by the fact that their forensic investigations showed Purvis was not at the crime scene, were determined to make Purvis confess. They picked a time when Purvis was not with his mother and Purvis confessed to Hamwi's murder. Represented by attorney Richard Kirsch, at Purvis's trial the taped confession to police was declared inadmissible by Judge Thomas Coker. But the jurors were not convinced of Purvis's innocence and declared him guilty based on the confession to psychiatrist Joel Klass. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.