Beatrice Six: Nebraska: Networked Knowledge Media Report: (Discredited 'repressed memories' theory: False confessions, false memories, and a puzzling question: Why did the exonerated so-called 'Beatrice Six' create false memories around the crime? Thanks to Netk (Networked Knowledge) for its 'Media Report' on NPR's (National Public Radio''s)...]Audie Cornish 'talk' with Rachel Aviv of the New Yorker about her reporting on this fascinating aspect of false confessions..."Audie Cornish, host: It was the largest DNA exoneration in the history of the U.S. court system. Six people were cleared of the rape and murder of an elderly woman in Beatrice, Neb. JoAnn Taylor was one of the people convicted of the 1985 crime. And still, all these years after her exoneration, she still says she can recall vivid details from the night of the murder. And she's not the only one. New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv spoke with some of the so-called Beatrice Six about their false memories and what it tells us about the idea of repressed memory in the justice system. Welcome to the program."

NETWORKED KNOWLEDGE MEDIA  REPORT:  On 15 June 2017 NPR reported After DNA Exoneration, The Beatrice Six Share False Memories of Murder [The online article has link to audio recording]; Check out the  'Networked Knowledge  Confessions Homepage' - a great resource. (Link below)

http://netk.net.au/ConfessionsHome.asp

GIST: DNA exonerated six people who had been convicted of killing an elderly woman in Nebraska in the 1980s. But several of the exonerees confessed to the crime and still recall details of the scene. NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker about her reporting on why the so-called Beatrice Six created false memories around the crime.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

It was the largest DNA exoneration in the history of the U.S. court system. Six people were cleared of the rape and murder of an elderly woman in Beatrice, Neb. JoAnn Taylor was one of the people convicted of the 1985 crime. And still, all these years after her exoneration, she still says she can recall vivid details from the night of the murder. And she's not the only one. New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv spoke with some of the so-called Beatrice Six about their false memories and what it tells us about the idea of repressed memory in the justice system. Welcome to the program.

RACHEL AVIV: Thank you.

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CORNISH: First, just remind us of the crime itself. The victim was named Helen Wilson. What was the evidence that police in that community used to kick off their investigation? And a warning for listeners - there may be some graphic detail ahead.

AVIV: Helen Wilson was 68. And she, at some time in the middle of the night, was raped and murdered. And the murderer left a lot of physical evidence, which was used to try to find a suspect. Ultimately, none of the physical evidence matched a suspect.

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CORNISH: And when we say physical evidence, we're talking about bodily fluid, right? AVIV: Right.
CORNISH: Especially - there was blood in particular...

  

AVIV: Blood and semen, right.

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CORNISH: So police go looking for a suspect, and they come upon a woman named JoAnn Taylor. How does she get drawn into this?

AVIV: The first confidential informant was a woman who was 17 years old. And she said that JoAnn Taylor and her friend Joseph White had bragged about killing Helen Wilson. So they're arrested. She essentially said, oh, I drank a lot. I don't remember much. And the detectives kept pressing her and kept telling her details about the crime and showing her pictures of the crime. And eventually she essentially trusted their vision of what had happened more than she trusted her own memory.

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CORNISH: She started to say, yes, maybe I do remember this after all.
AVIV: Exactly.

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CORNISH: And then she leads them essentially to five other people. How does that happen?

AVIV: So through another confidential informant they arrest a woman named Debra Shelden. From there on everyone else is implicated through dreams. So Debra Shelden is told to go back to her cell and to dream in order to recover her memories of what had happened at the crime. And she dreams that a friend of her husband who was named James Dean was at the crime with her. James Dean is then arrested. Eventually he dreams that someone named Kathy Gonzalez was there with him. Immediately after the dream, they arrest Kathy Gonzalez.

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CORNISH: And they're not told by just anyone, right? There's a psychologist who's been deputized to work with the police department. His name is Wayne Price. And he's a big believer in this idea of repressed memories. So how did that come into play in this investigation?

AVIV: He seemed to feel very confident that if someone closes their eyes and tries to take a nap or goes to sleep at night or just lets their mind wander they will suddenly come up with memories that had been buried that contained the details that were too traumatic for them to process. And this is a theory that has pretty much been discredited. But he told them this idea and taught them this theory.

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CORNISH: And you said it's discredited, but we're going back to the 1980s here. It was quite popular at that time.

AVIV: Very, very popular at the time. That was the era in which people were being told that some of their traumas were due to sexual abuse as children that they may have forgotten. And so there was this movement of therapists at that time who were trying to get people to remember through flashbacks and dreams and what was called memory work the details of their abuse. And it became a kind of epidemic. And once it reached epidemic proportions it was discredited as a theory.

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CORNISH: As we said, this crime happened in the '80s. They were exonerated in 2009. Why did you want to write about this now, especially as it's a discredited theory, right?

AVIV: You know, what struck me about the case was that there were two of the six who still struggled to believe that they were innocent. Usually when you look at cases of false confession, the person confesses, but as soon as they're out of the environment of the interrogation they - that belief dissipates and they realize, oh, my God, what did I do? Let me retract my confession. And that's when they get in trouble. But for three of the people in this case, they truly - they didn't just believe that they were guilty. They had very vivid and multisensory memories of having been at that crime. And those memories...

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CORNISH: Right. JoAnn Taylor talked about still feeling the pillow that she believed she had used to smother the victim with, even though...

AVIV: Right.

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CORNISH: ...That is not the case.

AVIV: Right. And so I was interested in the way that a false memory is not just implanted but actually shapes someone's sense of who they are and what they're capable of and the kind of story they tell themselves about their life.

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CORNISH: Rachel Aviv is a staff writer with The New Yorker. Her piece on false memories appears in this week's issue. Thank you for speaking with ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

AVIV: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHOENIX SONG, "VIA VENETO")"

The entire NPR interview can be read at:

https://www.npr.org/2017/06/15/533102554/after-dna-exoneration-the-beatrice-six-share- false-memories-of-murder

The Networked Knowledge  page can  be read:

http://netk.net.au/Confessions/Confessions27.pdf

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Read National Registry of Exonerations entry by Maurice Possley (up-dated  in 2022)  at the link below: Contributing factors are: 'False Confession, False or Misleading Forensic Evidence, Perjury or False Accusation, Official Misconduct, Inadequate Legal Defense.'  It is a very thorough analysis of an extremely interesting complex case: Here is a taste:

"On May 2, 1989, Dean had a consultation with Deputy Price, who, in addition to being a deputy sheriff, was the Gage County Sheriff’s office psychologist. During this meeting, Dean again denied any involvement. But after Dean took a polygraph examination and was told he was being deceptive, Dean began to doubt himself. Price told Dean that he was subconsciously aware of his role in the Wilson murder and that “continuing supportive therapy” would help him to recall his repressed memories.  In subsequent therapy sessions with Price, Dean was shown photographs and videos of the crime scene. He also was taken to Wilson’s apartment. On May 8, 1989, Dean, accompanied by his lawyer, gave a recorded statement saying he was present at the Wilson homicide along with Taylor, Winslow, White, and Debra Shelden. He could not recall why they went to Wilson’s apartment, and he did not remember seeing anyone harm her. Dean said he could not remember anyone else being present, but that it was possible there were others. Asked why he was admitting involvement, Dean said, “Well I, I feel that I remembered it in my sleep. I obviously had some kind of a subconscious block or something I don’t know what it was for sure and I couldn’t remember and I thought I was telling the truth naturally and I said I was not there.” Two days later, Dean gave another evolving statement, saying he went to Wilson’s apartment with Taylor, Winslow, White, and Debra Shelden and that Taylor, Winslow, and White grabbed Wilson in a “gentle manner.” Then Dean said someone slapped Wilson, but he could not remember who it was. And then, Dean agreed with Searcey’s suggestion that Wilson was being “violently mistreated.”  At the same time, Dean also said, “I can’t remember, you know, like I said, I got this all [in] a dream, you know, and I’m just telling you bits and pieces of what I can tell you, like you guys wanted to know, you know.” On May 17, 1989, Dean was interviewed yet again with his lawyer. In this interview, Dean stated that he witnessed Taylor, Winslow, and White sexually assaulting Wilson. Dean also added remembering seeing another person in the doorway of the apartment. Although Dean gave a physical description, he could not remember the gender or name of that person. Dean claimed he thought the other person was a woman and that he had “an idea” who she was, but he did not want “to put a wrong name in there and get you guys in trouble.” That same day, Dean pled guilty to an amended information charging him with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.  On May 24, 1989, Searcey interviewed Dean again and Dean now said that he remembered that Kathy Gonzalez was in the apartment and that she had been injured during the assault on Wilson. That same day, Debra Shelden was interviewed again and she now said she remembered that Gonzalez was present and had a bloody nose. Shelden said she did not know Gonzalez and had forgotten about her until she had a nightmare. After Searcey showed Shelden a picture of Gonzalez, Shelden said Gonzalez matched the characteristics of the woman she saw in her dream."

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

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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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

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