Sunday, August 7, 2022

Lois Tolley: New Zealand: False confessions: 'Fireplace chat anyone? Police and prosecutors lose battle to keep secret a contentious interviewing technique - labelled by a judge 'almost a fireplace chat' - the so-called Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model (CIPEM) used in the failed prosecution of Lois Tolley, the New Zealand Herald reports, on August 5, 2022..."In revoking his suppression order, Justice Simon France agreed there was "legitimate public interest in querying a specialist interviewing model that's been poorly used”. "Numerous breaches of several rules were identified, and it is legitimate to query the correctness of the underlying method." Furthermore, the technique itself merited public scrutiny, he said. "It is a method that has the effect of downplaying, or arguably obscuring, the true nature of what is occurring. Mr X was a suspect in a murder who was being interviewed because the police had information implicating him. "Yet an environment is created where what seems almost a fireside chat occurs. There are none of the typical trappings of a suspect interview. "Whether this is legitimate or desirable is not for the Court at this moment to comment on; it is something, however, that merits discussion." The rules on interviewing criminal suspects were long established and compliance was "necessary and expected", he noted. "The consequences of untrue admissions are often dramatic and a source of miscarriage."


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: "The police had argued the so-called Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model should not be made public because of the risk it could be misused by untrained investigators or make suspects suspicious. The media organisation Stuff took legal action, arguing it was in the public interest to be able to scrutinise police conduct in the case."

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STORY: "Tolley Murder case:  Crown and police lose legal fight over interview technique," published by The New Zealand Herald (no attribution),  on August 5, 2022.

GIST: "Crown lawyers and the police have lost a legal fight to keep secret the Crown lawyers and the police have lost a legal fight to keep secret the contentious interviewing technique used in the failed prosecution of the Lois Tolley murder case.


The method, likened by the High Court judge to "a fireside chat", was used in extracting a confession from one of three men charged over the shooting of Tolley in her Upper Hutt home in December 2016.


All charges were withdrawn after the cases against the trio unravelled separately late last year. Many details of the case against the men remain suppressed.


The police had argued the so-called Complex Investigation Phased Engagement Model should not be made public because of the risk it could be misused by untrained investigators or make suspects suspicious.


The media organisation Stuff took legal action, arguing it was in the public interest to be able to scrutinise police conduct in the case.


In revoking his suppression order, Justice Simon France agreed there was "legitimate public interest in querying a specialist interviewing model that's been poorly used”.


"Numerous breaches of several rules were identified, and it is legitimate to query the correctness of the underlying method."


Furthermore, the technique itself merited public scrutiny, he said.


"It is a method that has the effect of downplaying, or arguably obscuring, the true nature of what is occurring. Mr X was a suspect in a murder who was being interviewed because the police had information implicating him.

"Yet an environment is created where what seems almost a fireside chat occurs. There are none of the typical trappings of a suspect interview.

"Whether this is legitimate or desirable is not for the Court at this moment to comment on; it is something, however, that merits discussion."

The rules on interviewing criminal suspects were long established and compliance was "necessary and expected", he noted.

"The consequences of untrue admissions are often dramatic and a source of miscarriage.""

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lois-tolley-murder-case-crown-and-police-lose-legal-fight-over-interviewing-technique/LVGVEQJPF4IDZMV33Q2IJLR7FM/

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See 'Stuff story at link below: "CIPEM, which was developed by Detective Superintendent Tom Fitzgerald, the national crime manager, aims to get suspects who are reluctant to talk to police, to open up to detectives. This is done by replacing normal police interview scenarios with a “fireside chat” environment, with comfortable chairs, no desk or note-taking, shared food, and police appearing empathetic. The interviewing model has been used by police since 2018, but nothing was reported about its existence until February, after the case against three men accused of murdering Upper Hutt woman Lois Tolley collapsed. In that case, Justice France ruled that detectives using CIPEM to interview one of the men charged with the murder (known as “X” due to suppression orders) broke numerous fundamental guidelines. The judge said the officers misled X, and “manipulated” him to make a confession that was “very flawed” and “not credible”, and “improperly obtained by an unfair process”.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/129474504/police-fail-to-keep-details-of-controversial-interviewing-model-secret

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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;



SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:




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;