Full video episode and transcript: The Fight for Melissa At the following link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-fight-for-melissa-calusinski-was-day-care-worker-convicted-in-toddler-ben-kingans-death-wrongly-convicted/
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QUOTES OF THE DAY:
"After nine hours in that room, Melissa finally breaks.
“They’ve made it clear that there’s only one way out,” said Dr. Kassin.
Investigators give Melissa a scenario of what she did and why she did it:
Det. Sean Curran: We think in this situation the other babies are screaming, crying, whatever ... he starts acting up, and you get mad at him and you throw him on the floor.…and she goes along with it.
Melissa Calusinski: [Nods to affirm]
Det. George Filenko: You threw him on the floor?Melissa told “48 Hours” she truly believed that if she told investigators what they wanted to hear, they would all just go home.
Melissa Calusinski: Yeah. ... really hard.
Det. George Filenko: Really hard?
Melissa Calusinski: Yeah.
Melissa Calusinski: ...I’m just kind of curious, how long … much more, ‘cause ...?Incredulous, Dr. Kassin remarked, “Is this gonna go on your record? Do you have any idea what’s happening to you right now?”
Det. George Filenko: Not much longer, we’re on the phone right now. We’re trying to get this done as quickly as possible.
Melissa Calusinski: OK. Because I just want to go home and spend time with my parents and my puppy.
Melissa Calusinski: Now is this going … to be going on my record?
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So why would Melissa confess to a crime she says she didn’t commit?
“It took me years to wrap my head around the idea that somebody, short of having a gun to their head, would ever confess to a crime they didn’t commit,” Dr. Saul Kassin, a professor at John Jay College, told Moriarty. “And yet, when you look at the database of known wrongful convictions … Homicide cases in particular, where there is DNA to exonerate … 60 percent of them contain false confessions in evidence.”
Doctor Kassin has testified about false confessions in numerous cases, but the judge wouldn’t allow any false confession testimony at Melissa’s trial. “48 Hours” asked Dr. Kassin, a CBS News consultant, to analyze Melissa’s interrogation.
“I don’t look at a case like this and pretend to know whether she did something or not,” he explained. “But I have concerns … she’s a vulnerable suspect.”
When the defense had Melissa’s mental capacity tested, she showed “extreme vulnerability to suggestion” and scored at the bottom for verbal comprehension.
Melissa Calusinski: …because I’m trying to think, what did I do...And Dr. Kassin says Melissa’s long interrogation is worrisome.
Melissa Calusinski: I had nothing to do with it.“The average length of an interrogation … is 30 minutes to two hours. This one goes nine hours,” he explained. “It’s clear that long interrogations put innocent people at risk.”
“Everybody has a breaking point,” Dr. Kassin continued.
Melissa Calusinski: I never put my hands on him.Hour after hour Melissa denied she hurt Benjamin:
Melissa Calusinski: I did not drop him.Yet, the investigators ignored her denials. And that’s not all. When they asked her to take a lie detector test, “She immediately says, ‘yes.’ Not a problem,” said Dr. Kassin.
Det. Sean Curran: …It’s called a polygraph examination.“Professionally-trained interrogators are led to understand that the innocent person who has nothing to fear and nothing to hide is more likely to say yes,” Dr. Kassin explained. “Then they ask, ‘You know, there are kids in the room who may be able to communicate…’”
Melissa Calusinski: OK.
Det. Sean Curran: Is that something that you’d be willing to take after this?
Melissa Calusinski: Yeah.
Det. Sean Curran: We have a specialist who speaks with children … do you think it would be a good idea to have that specialist talk to the children that were in that room?“If she has something to hide, she might go, ‘Uh oh. Really?’ She says, ‘Yeah. I think that’s a good idea,’” Kassin said. “…she acted just like an innocent person should act … They overlook the innocence cues.”
Melissa Calusinski: Yes, I agree.
“And I would argue that after hours and hours of-- of denials,” said Dr. Kassin.
Melissa Calusinski: I didn’t do anything!“…in each case, the denial is met with a punishing rejection,” Dr. Kassin pointed out.
Det. Sean Curran: Give me a f---ing break, this kid’s dead.“She figures out what she needs to do,” said Dr. Kassin.
Det. George Filenko: We’re not going anywhere until we get the facts here.“I was just ready to get away from these men,” Melissa told Moriarty.
“And the script is clear,” Dr. Kassin said.
Det. Sean Curran: I do think an accident happened.“Sixty-eight times the word accident … or mistake or mistaken is made by the detectives to describe what likely happened here,” he continued.
“And, in fact, it comes from them first?” Moriarty asked.
“Absolutely comes from them first, the idea that this is an accident,” Dr. Kassin replied,
Det. Sean Curran: Did you hit his head by accident with something?After nearly six hours with investigators, Melissa tells them it was an accident.
Melissa Calusinski: Nope.
Det. George Filenko: …we’re not here to condemn you, we’re not here to put you in jail…
Melissa Calusinski: ‘Cause I didn’t fully put him down, and he kind of almost slipped when I dropped him. And he hit the chair.But investigators don’t accept her answer. They were convinced someone had deliberately hurt Ben that terrible day.”
Det. Sean Curran: There’s no way that that would have cracked his skull.“A couple hours later … the tone is changing. And now the accident is more of a premeditated act,” Dr. Kassin explained. “Suddenly the word ‘frustrated’ and ‘angry’ makes its appearance.”
Det. George Filenko: I’m not believing anything you’re telling me right now.
Det. Sean Curran: He didn’t do anything to frustrate you? Was this something out of frustration?After nine hours in that room, Melissa finally breaks.
Melissa Calusinski: [Shakes her head no)
Det. George Filenko: Something frustrated you, something happened…
“They’ve made it clear that there’s only one way out,” said Dr. Kassin.
Investigators give Melissa a scenario of what she did and why she did it:
Det. Sean Curran: We think in this situation the other babies are screaming, crying, whatever ... he starts acting up, and you get mad at him and you throw him on the floor.…and she goes along with it.
Melissa Calusinski: [Nods to affirm]
Det. George Filenko: You threw him on the floor?Melissa told “48 Hours” she truly believed that if she told investigators what they wanted to hear, they would all just go home.
Melissa Calusinski: Yeah. ... really hard.
Det. George Filenko: Really hard?
Melissa Calusinski: Yeah.
Melissa Calusinski: ...I’m just kind of curious, how long … much more, ‘cause ...?Incredulous, Dr. Kassin remarked, “Is this gonna go on your record? Do you have any idea what’s happening to you right now?”
Det. George Filenko: Not much longer, we’re on the phone right now. We’re trying to get this done as quickly as possible.
Melissa Calusinski: OK. Because I just want to go home and spend time with my parents and my puppy.
Melissa Calusinski: Now is this going … to be going on my record?
Dr. Kassin says the detectives coached Melissa to tell a story that matched the medical evidence. But what happens if the medical evidence was wrong?
“Normally a pathologist is not 100 percent. But I feel she’s 100 percent innocent,” said Dr. Thomas Rudd.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-fight-for-melissa-calusinski-was-day-care-worker-convicted-in-toddler-ben-kingans-death-wrongly-convicted/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. 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/
