GIST: On Friday, Brendan Dassey, the 26-year-old convicted
murderer who became famous thanks to Netflix's documentary series
Making a Murderer, learned that his conviction had been overturned, meaning he would be set free in 90 days unless prosecutors decide to retry his case. Dassey was convicted along with his uncle, Steven Avery, of
the 2005 murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach. But the Netflix
series cast doubt on the narrative of the case advanced by authorities, and
last week, a judge ruled that Dasey's 2006 confession was unlawfully coerced. The full four-hour-long interview with Dassey was uploaded to YouTube last year. It's agonizing to watch. The detectives repeatedly
tell Dassey—then only 16 years old—to "be honest" and reassure him that they're
on his side; the teenager seems lost. They ask Dassey to give them details, and
he struggles, answering with questions, as if checking in to see if he's giving
police the "correct" answer. They try to get Dassey to say that Avery shot the
victim in the head, asking, "What
else did you do? Come on... something with the head..." "He cut off
her hair," Dassey offers. In his ruling, US Magistrate William Duffin cited the
interrogators' "repeated
false promises [that he shouldn't worry], when considered in conjunction with
all relevant factors, most especially Dassey's age, intellectual deficits, and
the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey's confession involuntary
under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments." But though those "relevant factors" make the conduct of the
police in the case especially upsetting, the techniques used in Dassey's
interrogation, like lying to him and assuring
him he won't get into trouble if he confesses, are common, accepted, and legal practices
in law enforcement. "Police interrogation in America is fundamentally
dishonest," says Richard Leo, a professor of law and psychology at the
University of San Francisco and a leading researcher on police interrogation
practices. "Police are allowed to lie all the time. They call lying about
evidence 'ruses.' It's kind of Orwellian in the sense that it's not really a
ruse. If I'm telling you I've got your fingerprints and your DNA and I have a
surveillance video... and you're a kid and you don't know that police can lie about
evidence, you're thinking, How would I be in a video?" Combined with other manipulations, experts say, such tactics
can drive an innocent person to confess to murder.........Most, if not all interrogations in this country, are some
variation on
the Reid Technique,
which was developed in the 1940s by a man named John E. Reid as a more humane
alternative to the intense and often physically violent interrogations of the
previous decades, the so-called third degree. The Reid Technique relies on a presumption of guilt based on
either evidence or, as Leo says, "a gut hunch." "You isolate
somebody," is how the professor describes it, "and then you accuse them. Cut
off their denials, confront them with real or made-up evidence, then present
minimizing scenarios—suggest that if you confess, it's either not a crime, or
it's not that serious." The Reid Technique also emphasizes the importance of reading body
language. "Nonverbal behavior is more reliable
than spoken words," according to a training
article posted
on the website of John E. Reid and Associates. "Facial expressions, of course,
reflect the person's attitude... Eyes are windows to the soul." But there is no evidence that's true, say
critics of the method. "They're completely wrong," says Leo.
"Scientific research contradicts almost everything they say about detecting
deception from cues. So they are simply wrong in how they advise interrogators
to divine truth-telling or deception from body language and physical behavior."........One of the most significant protections for suspects is
videotaping interrogations. Wisconsin, where Dassey was arrested, mandates
recording. "We're finally starting to win the videotaping battle," says
Drizin. "When I started this work, only two states required the police to
record interrogations. Now we're close to 25. Recording is critical because it
is the only way to see whether the suspect provided the details of the crime
that only the true perpetrator should know or whether the police fed them to
the suspect." Many other countries, like England and Germany, don't allow
police to lie to suspects, according to Leo, who wonders if it might be time to reevaluate our practices
here. "It's a really big question: Do we need thoroughly dishonest
police to get confessions and solve crimes?" he asks. "If we accept that, one
consequence is that we will have a higher false confession rate than we need.
Is it fair? Is it ethical?" He suggests the Reid Technique, while progressive in the
1940s, could be regressive today, and that the future of questioning suspects
could be a more investigative-style approach, an actual interview. "Not guilt-presumptive," he says. "Not rush to judgment, not
trying to muzzle somebody to the point where they don't talk and then to repeat
your theory... But instead to encourage them to give information—and with finesse
and less psychological coercion, try to get accurate information as opposed to
confessions. It might be time."
The entire story can be found at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments.
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 found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
