PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Confidential, often jailhouse informants, have probably been around for as long as there have been jails and inmates willing to trade information for a favor or two — including more privileges, a shorter sentence or dropping of charges. They commonly turn up in investigations which are not going anywhere - as in ‘no DNA'. “Incentivized informants” is the legal term of art, but too often they also have “a strong incentive to lie,” said Michelle Feldman, state campaigns director for the Innocence Project. That explains why, according to the project’s figures, 16 percent of DNA exonerations involved false testimony by informants.
Broader studies of wrongful convictions put the figure as high as 46 percent. Innocent people have spent decades in prison while the guilty remained free, and often the victims of those informants never see justice either — a lose-lose-lose for the criminal justice system.
Boston Globe Editorial: February 15, 2020.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "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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"PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In December 2019, Haibatov sued the state for 10 million shekels ($3.2 million) in compensation over the “enormous and irreversible damage” it caused him. He has no home, no education, no money, a reputation as a criminal and no chance of finding work. He also suffers from anxiety, the suit said, and his family was harmed. The Jerusalem District Court sent the parties to mediation, and the mediator proposed that the state pay him 1.75 million shekels. Haibatov’s lawyers agreed on the grounds that his situation was too desperate to wait for a court ruling. The prosecution also agreed, but only if the settlement was approved by the government’s court settlements committee, comprised of officials from the Justice Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the prosecution. Since then, seven months have passed, but the committee has yet to even discuss the issue, and it’s not clear when it will. Haibatov’s lawyers recently asked the court to reopen the suit due to the state’s foot-dragging. Haibatov also set up a protest tent outside the Knesset and stayed there for 30 days. During this time, he was arrested three times for disturbing the peace. Following the latest arrest, the Jerusalem District Court ordered him released on condition that he stay 200 meters away from the Knesset, pay bail of 500 shekels and post a third-party guarantee of 1,500 shekels. It also asked the Jerusalem municipality to give him housing. But Haibatov had trouble finding a guarantor, and therefore remained in jail for several days until a friend from the past finally provided the guarantee. He was released last Thursday and set up another protest tent 200 meters from the Knesset. The prosecution said the proposed settlement “is being examined by all the relevant parties, and that naturally takes time.” It added that it had no objection to resuming the lawsuit in the meantime."
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STORY: "Israel delaying compensation for man acquitted after 12 years in prison published by Haaretz (Reporter Chen Maaarit) on December 20, 2021.
SUB-HEADING: "Elisha Haibatov found himself in prison last week after protesting the state's failure to compensate him, "This is not how a criminal investigation should be conducted in a democratic country," the justices wrote in 2018."
GIST: "A man who spent 12 years behind bars for murder, before the Supreme Court reversed his conviction, found himself in prison again last week for protesting the state’s failure to pay him compensation.
Elisha Haibatov was arrested for spray-painting a protest slogan in Russian on the statue of the menorah in front of the Knesset. It was the third time in a month he was arrested for protesting.
Haibatov was first arrested in January 2006 on suspicion of having murdered the cashier at a snooker club in Sderot during an attempted robbery four years earlier. He was held for 11 days without being allowed to contact anyone and without even being informed of the charges against him. The only person he spoke with was an informant planted in his cell who supplied him with drugs and advice and promised financial help.
Three weeks later, he confessed to the informant. But he denied the charges on every other occasion – under police questioning, during a confrontation with the informant and at his trial.
The Be’er Sheva District Court convicted him of murder in 2011. He appealed, and in August 2018, the Supreme Court acquitted him after disqualifying his confession to the informant on the grounds that he had been barred from meeting a lawyer throughout those three weeks.
The court also cited several other problems with the police’s conduct. These included failing to bring Haibatov before a judge after arresting him, preventing him from contacting his family, giving him drugs, making accusations against him that they knew were false and failing to document their instructions to the informant.
“This isn’t how a criminal investigation should be conducted in a democratic country,” the justices wrote.
In December 2019, Haibatov sued the state for 10 million shekels ($3.2 million) in compensation over the “enormous and irreversible damage” it caused him. He has no home, no education, no money, a reputation as a criminal and no chance of finding work. He also suffers from anxiety, the suit said, and his family was harmed.
The Jerusalem District Court sent the parties to mediation, and the mediator proposed that the state pay him 1.75 million shekels. Haibatov’s lawyers agreed on the grounds that his situation was too desperate to wait for a court ruling. The prosecution also agreed, but only if the settlement was approved by the government’s court settlements committee, comprised of officials from the Justice Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the prosecution.
Since then, seven months have passed, but the committee has yet to even discuss the issue, and it’s not clear when it will. Haibatov’s lawyers recently asked the court to reopen the suit due to the state’s foot-dragging.
Haibatov also set up a protest tent outside the Knesset and stayed there for 30 days. During this time, he was arrested three times for disturbing the peace.
Following the latest arrest, the Jerusalem District Court ordered him released on condition that he stay 200 meters away from the Knesset, pay bail of 500 shekels and post a third-party guarantee of 1,500 shekels. It also asked the Jerusalem municipality to give him housing.
But Haibatov had trouble finding a guarantor, and therefore remained in jail for several days until a friend from the past finally provided the guarantee. He was released last Thursday and set up another protest tent 200 meters from the Knesset.
The prosecution said the proposed settlement “is being examined by all the relevant parties, and that naturally takes time.” It added that it had no objection to resuming the lawsuit in the meantime."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-delaying-compensation-for-man-acquitted-after-12-years-in-prison-1.10479415
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Check out Haaretz article by Chen Maarit (October 29, 2021) at the link below: "Israeli police use dubious ways to get confessions, report finds: Interrogators in Israel are allowed to lie to suspects in order to extract confessions of guilt, an examination method forbidden in most democracies."..."
In recent years numerous cases of aggressive interrogations of criminal suspects whose rights have been denied have come to light in courts and in the media. In some cases it transpired that suspects had been falsely convicted of grave crimes because of the interrogation’s failings. In August 2018, for example, the Supreme Court acquitted Elisha Haibatov, who had been convicted of murder and served 12 years in prison, due to a serious violation of his rights as a suspect. In November 2011, the Supreme Court acquitted Hamed Zinati of a murder conviction due to interrogation failures. This was similar to the case of Amos Baranes, who had been convicted in 1976 of murdering Rachel Heller. At present Roman Zadorov, who was convicted of murdering 13-year-old Ta’ir Rada, is undergoing a retrial after his lawyer presented opinions that raised doubts about his conviction. In 2018 the committee to examine wrongful convictions and correct them was set up. It is headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger, who was of the minority opinion that Zadorov should have been given the benefit of the doubt and acquitted.
The committee recently issued an interim report and recommended setting up a unit to regulate forensic examinations. Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar is advancing a proposal for a quasi-constitutional Basic Law to ensure suspects’ rights, as well as legislation to enable the disqualification of illegally obtained evidence."
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-police-use-dubious-ways-to-get-confessions-report-finds-1.10335568
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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;
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.
