Robert Adams: Syracuse, New York: Anatomy of a false confession: Reporter Douglass Dowty's Syracuse.com story of, 'Police lies, a botched investigation and a homicide confession: ‘I’m going to jail for something I didn’t do.’ ... "Robert Adams repeatedly told police he didn't kill his friend Charles Jones. Police lied to him that they had witnesses and evidence that proved he killed the man. Faced with that, Adams confessed. He spent 8 1/2 months in jail before he was cleared."... "In a windowless interrogation room, Syracuse police kept telling Robert Adams that he beat to death a friend in May 2019. Detectives told Adams that a 911 caller and multiple witnesses had identified him as the attacker, down to his green-lettered “Bird Game” hat. They told him that doctors had disproven his version of what happened. That Adams’ blood was on the victim’s knuckles and that security video captured the whole thing. Confronted with such evidence, Adams — a 55-year-old drifter suffering from mental illness — confessed: He must’ve beaten Charles Jones, 28, with a stick in a drunken fight. As soon as police left the interrogation room, a recording shows, Adams mumbled to himself: “Damn, I’m going to jail for something I didn’t do.” He was right. The police had lied throughout Adams’ interrogation: There was no evidence tying Adams to the crime. No video, no doctors, no witnesses, no blood. He didn’t do it."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of  scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects (especially young suspects)  are to widely used interrogation methods  such as  the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As  all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including inducement. deception (read ‘outright lies’) physical violence,  and even physical and mental torture.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:

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STORY: "Police lies, a botched investigation and a homicide confession: 'I'm going to jail for something I didn't do,' by  Court and Legal Affairs Reporter Douglass Dowty, published by Syracuse.com on September 6, 2021.  (Robert Adams has launched a civil suit. I will be following developments closely. HL);

PHOTO CAPTION: "Robert Adams repeatedly told police he didn't kill his friend Charles Jones. Police lied to him that they had witnesses and evidence that proved he killed the man. Faced with that, Adams confessed. He spent 8 1/2 months in jail before he was cleared."

GIST: "In a windowless interrogation room, Syracuse police kept telling Robert Adams that he beat to death a friend in May 2019.

Detectives told Adams that a 911 caller and multiple witnesses had identified him as the attacker, down to his green-lettered “Bird Game” hat. They told him that doctors had disproven his version of what happened. That Adams’ blood was on the victim’s knuckles and that security video captured the whole thing.

Confronted with such evidence, Adams — a 55-year-old drifter suffering from mental illness — confessed: He must’ve beaten Charles Jones, 28, with a stick in a drunken fight.

As soon as police left the interrogation room, a recording shows, Adams mumbled to himself: “Damn, I’m going to jail for something I didn’t do.”

He was right.

The police had lied throughout Adams’ interrogation: There was no evidence tying Adams to the crime. No video, no doctors, no witnesses, no blood. He didn’t do it.

In fact, a 911 caller reporting the fight had provided evidence that Adams was not the killer: The true killer had run away, the witness said. Adams had stayed to cradle his dying friend until police arrived.

The only actual evidence against Adams ended up being his false confession — given by an apparent drunk man under duress after a mountain of lies used by police to pressure him into admitting guilt.

Still, Adams spent 8 1/2 months in jail for a slaying committed by someone else. The real killer has never been arrested.

Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard’s examination of Adams’ case reveals the following:

Syracuse police locked in on Adams early, and they missed evidence that showed they had the wrong guy. Authorities charged him, indicted him, kept him in jail and even offered him a plea bargain before finally acknowledging he was innocent.

The high-pressure interrogation that led to Adams’ false confession has all the traits of techniques used dozens of times every day by police across the country, experts say.

The goal is to use whatever legal tools are necessary to get a confession from someone who police already believe is guilty. It’s confrontational, condones lying about evidence and tries to leave no room for the suspect to maintain his or her innocence.

The extent of deceit used to obtain Adams’ false confession is revealed in a videotape of the interrogation obtained by Syracuse.com...

(This thorough, illuminating  'anatomy' of a false confession is lengthy, but well worth the read at the link below); 

https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2021/10/police-lies-a-botched-investigation-and-a-homicide-confession-im-going-to-jail-for-something-i-didnt-do.html

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/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;

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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL, FINAL WORD: “It is incredibly easy to convict an innocent person, but it's exceedingly difficult to undo such a devastating injustice. 

Jennifer Givens: DirectorL UVA Innocence Project.<div class="player-unavailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.</h1><div class="submessage"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSd7-A5c924" target="_blank">Try watching this video on www.youtube.com</a>, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.</div></di