"Hobbs never alleged that he was physically abused during his police interrogation.
"He's obviously in a precarious emotional state -- his daughter was just murdered and he found the body," Warden said. "Of course, he's cooperating with police, and as a matter of course they ask him to sign away his Miranda rights."
Hours later, police started accusing him of committing the crime.
"After extensive interrogation, people will say almost anything just to stop the grilling," Warden said.
Police typically are "very accusatory" during interrogations, he said. There is no law against police lying to elicit information and confessions. This means police can tell a person they have evidence against those being interviewed when they may not, Warden said.
This can lead to people making fear-based confessions under pressure, he said.
"I think that Jerry Hobbs is just an example of utter desperation at the end of a grueling interrogation with probably some sleep deprivation," Warden said."
BETH KRAMER; LAKE COUNTY NEWS-SUN;
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BACKGROUND: The northern Illinois man jailed on first-degree murder charges in the 2005 stabbing deaths of his daughter and another young girl was freed early in August, 2010, after prosecutors dropped charges because DNA evidence from the crime scene matched that of another man. Hobbs, 39, had pleaded not guilty in the stabbing deaths of his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her friend, 9-year-old Krystal Tobias in Zion, about 50 miles north of Chicago. Prosecutors in Lake County had several months earlier that DNA from the crime scene matched another man who once lived in Zion but was in custody in Virginia after being charged in two attacks on women. The DNA match came on June 25 from a national database, where the man's DNA had been recently entered, according to Lake County Deputy State's Attorney Jeffrey Pavletic. Prosecutors then relaunched their investigation. The man in custody in Virginia has not been charged in the 2005 Zion deaths. In May 2005, Jerry Hobbs reported finding the girls' bodies near their homes in Zion. Both had been stabbed numerous times. Prosecutors alleged Hobbs killed them because he was angry his daughter was outside when she was supposed to be home. Police said Hobbs confessed to the slayings, but his attorneys said the confession was coerced. Both defense attorneys and prosecutors have acknowledged there was no physical evidence linking Hobbs to the killings.
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"Why would anyone -- say, Jerry Hobbs -- confess to a crime he or she did not commit?," the Lake County News-Sun story by reporter Beth Kramer published on August 7, 2010 begins, under the heading, "Expert: False confessions 'psychologically coerced': Hobbs questioned for nearly 20 hours."
"It's a simple question without a simple answer, said Rob Warden, executive director for the Center of Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic," the story continues.
"False Confessions Since 1985, 20 people have made false confessions in Illinois.
In about 25 percent of DNA exoneration cases, innocent defendants made incriminating statements, delivered outright confessions or pleaded guilty. In more than 25 percent of cases in a National Institute of Justice study, suspects were excluded once DNA testing was conducted during the criminal investigation.
Those proven to have been wrongfully convicted through post-conviction DNA testing spend, on average, 12 years behind bars.
Sources: Center on Wrongful Convictions, innocentproject.org
"We think in the Hobbs case he was psychology coerced. It's counter-intuitive that anybody would confess to a crime he or she didn't commit," Warden said.
Police questioned Hobbs close to 20 hours the day after his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and her 9-year-old friend, Krystal Tobias, were murdered in 2005. Hobbs was the person who found their bodies on Mother's Day.
After a lengthy interrogation, Hobbs admitted to the double homicide.
DNA evidence recovered in 2008 did not match Hobbs, but the state did not drop charges against him until Wednesday.
Hobbs never alleged that he was physically abused during his police interrogation.
"He's obviously in a precarious emotional state -- his daughter was just murdered and he found the body," Warden said. "Of course, he's cooperating with police, and as a matter of course they ask him to sign away his Miranda rights."
Hours later, police started accusing him of committing the crime.
"After extensive interrogation, people will say almost anything just to stop the grilling," Warden said.
Police typically are "very accusatory" during interrogations, he said. There is no law against police lying to elicit information and confessions. This means police can tell a person they have evidence against those being interviewed when they may not, Warden said.
This can lead to people making fear-based confessions under pressure, he said.
"I think that Jerry Hobbs is just an example of utter desperation at the end of a grueling interrogation with probably some sleep deprivation," Warden said.
Most accurate confessions are made after about four hours of interrogation, he said, adding that in a case like Hobbs', police don't know the facts until further investigation either proves or disproves the confession.
Many false confessions are factually inaccurate to the facts of the crime, he said.
Once DNA evidence points to another perpetrator, the false confessor should be released. Hobbs remained in custody two years after his DNA did not match what was found on his daughter.
"What they've done to this poor man is outrageous. It's clear he didn't commit this (murder). I don't know how he (State's Attorney Michael Waller) can sleep with himself," Warden said.
Waller maintains that his office dropping the charges five years later "shows the system works."
"Just because DNA evidence is present doesn't automatically dismiss the case. The case has to be weighed against all other evidence," Waller said.
He reiterated that the identity of the DNA match was not made until June 25 this year.
Once authorities had this new information, he said, they "worked nonstop to determine if the case against Hobbs should be dismissed."
When asked to respond to Warden's suggestion that Hobbs' interrogation was psychologically coerced, Waller cited Lake County Circuit Judge Fred Foreman's ruling that found the interrogation credible, legal and competent.
"All over TV, radio (and other news), they're slandering dedicated police officers in Lake County, and they're ignoring what's happening in the courts," Waller said. "Warden tries to try these cases in the press. Our legal system is where these cases should be resolved.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/2573962,5_1_WA07_CONFESS_S1-100807.article
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-feature-cases-issues-and.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
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