|
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Trickery
A public defender writes to tell me about a case where a policeman tricked
an unsuspecting man into signing a false confession which the officer then used as leverage to make the confessor an informant.
Farfetched? Not in an age where law enforcement trickery is encouraged.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Beware The Non-Confession
I've been retained as a false confessions expert in cases where the allegation
wasn't really a false confession but rather no confession at all. I get the feeling this phenomenon may be surprisingly frequent
-- a suspect, usually young and/or not well-versed in English, signs something that he doesn't realize is a confession. Defense
attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and jurors should all be on guard against this sort of thing.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Johnnie Lee Savory
Take a look at this website, devoted to Johnnie Lee Savory, who was tragically convicted
of double homicide on the basis of what was probably a false confession.
Send a comment
Monday, September 8, 2008
New Book
I enthusiastically recommend a new book, published by New Press, coauthored
by Tom Wells & Richard Leo: The Wrong Guys; Murder, False Confessions, and the Norfolk Four.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Misguided War
Of the many good arguments against the war on drugs, one is the militaristic
tactics (SWAT raids and the like) increasingly used. There are quite a few proven false confessions to drug-related crimes,
and the aggressive tactics used by law enforcement in this area ensure that there will be more.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Hidden Cost Of False Confessions
A visitor to this site writes to ask: "How has it come to be in America
that forcing a confession is acceptable, especially knowing that in doing so the real culprit is left free to violate society
again?"
It's a very good point. When the authorities obtain a confession, they
usually shut down the investigation. When someone is wrongly convicted based on a false confession, the true perpetrator
remains at large.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Reliable Evidence
Recent advances in fingerprint technology are, in the words of the
Associated Press, "one in a string of developments that gives modern forensics" an expanding ability to solve crimes. As
law enforcement improves its ability to gather physical evidence, it should be less reliant on confessions to solve crimes
and therefore slower to resort to the interrogation techniques known to produce false confessions.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Barry Beach
In the ranks of probable false confessions, few are more disturbing than
this one.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Expert Witness
Richard Leo's new book on police interrogation includes a fine discussion
about the value of a false confessions expert witness. Leo points out that the confessions expert may do more than educate
judge or jury about false confessions. Because police and prosecutors don't like seeing flaws in their work exposed,
expert testimony about false confessions "may deter police misbehavior in the long run and improve police and prosecutorial
screening practices."
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Terror Watch List
From the AP: "The Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor
says the government's terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise
hassled." He should have added what no reasonable person can doubt: false confessions have resulted.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Applaud The DA
New DNA tests establish that JonBenet Ramsey's parents did not kill their
daughter. Unfortunately, they spent years under a cloud of suspicion fueled by the District Attorney's office. To her credit,
Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy has apologized, writing to John Ramsey: "No innocent person should have to endure
such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion." When it comes to false confessions, prosecutors are often less sensible
and generous -- they insist on guilt even after DNA proves innocence.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Expert Consultation
I have posted a number of times about the value of false confession expert testimony. While
many courts do not permit such testimony, lawyers in such jurisdictions can still benefit from the false confessions
expert. Such an expert, serving as consultant, can give the attorney an invaluable understanding of false confessions
as well as suggestions for challenging his client's confession.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Not Learning From History
The New York Times reports that military trainers in Guantanamo
utilized techniques that the Chinese used against American prisoners during the Korean War -- which produced many false confessions.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Good News
When I introduced this site, a little more than 2 years ago, my
first post was about Marty Tankleff. Thanks to a decision by New York's attorney general earlier this week, Tankleff is finally
a free man. He had served almost two decades on account of what most observers consider his false confession.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Expert Testimony
Professor Edward Cheng of Brooklyn Law School is doing research to test
an interesting hypothesis. Professor Cheng suspects that judges who exclude false confessions expert testimony are more likely
to issue a published opinion about their decision than those who allow such testimony. If so, trial judges deciding
whether to admit testimony receive skewed information about what other courts have held. In any event, this much is clear:
many courts do permit such testimony, and those which don't are compromising the defendant's right to a fair trial.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Limiting The Death Penalty
The Supreme Court decision yesterday, holding the death penalty disproportionate
in cases of child rape, will infuriate supporters of capital punishment and buoy opponents. But the entire debate is skewed.
Haven't we learned (thanks to false confessions, among other things) that we are guaranteed to execute innocent people? Is
there anything worse? The biggest problem with capital punishment is not that it's used too often, or done the wrong
way, but that it will necessarily result in unspeakable and unnecessary tragedies.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Beyond Torture
The debate over the treatment of enemy combatants is being won by those
opposed to the Bush administration's policy, and the next president, either John McCain or Barack Obama, will abandon torture.
But we need to be careful what we learn from this debate. Opponents of torture point out -- correctly -- that it does not
yield reliable information. However, people may get the incorrect impression that anything short of torture is okay. In fact,
widespread interrogation techniques within the U.S., which rely on psychological rather than physical coercion, also yield
false confessions. To protect against false confessions -- not just from designated enemy combatants but from American citizens
suspected of all kinds of crimes -- interrogation practice needs to be reexamined. The problem starts at your local police
station.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
False Accusations
The allegations by former NBA referee Tim Donaghy about officials fixing
games need to be investigated. But, until they are, we should not assume the accusations to be true and allow reputations
to be ruined. False accusations are a close cousin to false confessions, and both can result from a feeling
of desperation. Donaghy's belated, self-serving accusations could well be false.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Top 100
I’m honored to
be included in this list of the Top 100 criminal law websites.
Send a comment
|
