Why Would Anybody Make a False Confession in Minnesota?
The singularly most powerful piece of evidence in a criminal trial in Minnesota is a confession. Judges love it. Juries love it. After all, why would someone ever confess to a crime that they did not commit? Police officers know this too. As a result, when police suspect that someone has committed a crime, they frequently move very quickly in order to get the suspect into a room so they can button up their case. After all, they know you did it. So far, so good. But here is the rub. What happens if you didn’t? If you admitted to something you didn’t do, contact an experienced Minnesota criminal defense attorney as soon as possible.
“Let’s remember, false confessions can happen because the police really think they’ve got the guy, even if they’re wrong. They just have to get the answer they want and they will push.”
What is a False Confession?
A false confession is a statement given by someone admitting to a crime that they did not commit. Believe it or not, there are a lot of different reasons this happens. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 1 in 5 exonerations involve somebody admitted to a crime they could NOT have committed. Let me repeat that, 1 in 5 admitted to a crime they could NOT have committed. Even worse, the Innocence Project, 28% of all cases in which somebody was exonerated also involved the people themselves falsely confessing to the crime. In other words, these are people who literally could not have committed the crimes they admitted to. Examples include The Exonerated 5 from the Central Park Gang Rape convictions from the 1980s. What about Brendan Dassey from the famous “Making a Murderer“ podcast and documentary? There are actually hundreds of verifiable and proven victims of false confessions. How can this be possible?
“So, the question isn’t if they do it but why they do it.”
Setting the Stage - How Do False Confessions Happen?
Being the focus of a criminal investigation can be one of the most frightening, disorienting and impossible events that anybody can face. Until you face it, you have simply no idea. You are called and asked or told to come into the police station. They refuse to tell you what it is about until you get there. Of course, they don’t tell you to talk to a lawyer or bring one with you. You are brought into a small windowless room and told they they just want to hear your side of the story. Sadly that is where the story begins but certainly doesn’t end there. Or worse, you are arrested, stripped and put into a orange jump suit and thrown in a cell for a a few days until they get to you and only then bring you into a small concrete interrogation cell, petrified and exhausted, for an opportunity for you to just talk.
What happens if the police then start lying to you about what they “know” you did. Its a lie and they know it. They might even start telling you about pieces of evidence that they have proving you did it. Its a lie and they know it. They might threaten you with enormous prison sentences or worse, threaten your loved ones with those same enormous prison sentences if you don’t “help them.” Its a lie and they know it. They might start talking about how pretty you are, how you have lovely lips and how popularly you will be once you get to prison. Or, if you cooperate and help them, you get to go home today. What happens if you are drunk, high, confused, mentally ill, slo?. Will it help or will they just use it as another tool?
False confessions can happen for a whole series of reasons. It often starts with the these general surrounding in which somebody is vulnerable, isolated, confused and scared. This is exactly what the police want. All of these emotions make somebody more susceptible and more pliable. Add the fact that you are in a room that you may not feel you can get out of with people in positions of authority who may or may not have guns telling you that they already know everything. You start piling on the limitations of the person being interrogated alongside the tools in the officers’ tool belts that they can use to get a confession and you can get people to say all sorts of things.
“Police officers don’t just take it upon themselves to lie during interrogations. They are trained to lie at the academy and on the job. Seriously, people doubt this? Ask any officer, any honest officer, and they will admit this.”
What Can Happen to you During a Police Interrogation?
Unfortunately, police departments across Minnesota and the nation train their officers on so-called interrogation techniques including lying to people, frequently called perps or perpetrators. Believe it or not, these aggressive and duplicitous techniques are permissible and likely admissible in court including:
They will lie and deceive you about the evidence they have, what other people are saying or even charges that you can face even if that would never happen.
Falsely promising that if you cooperate and admit, the officers with promise you leniency.
If you just answer their questions to their satisfaction, you get to go home
They will use good cop v. bad cop where one will act threatening and out of control which includes yelling, screaming and cursing at you as a way to “motivate” you.
While these techniques are more than acceptable to courts across the state, officers will go even further. While these additional techniques may give the Court some heartburn, they may still be sufficient for admissibility including:
Interrogate somebody under the influence of alcohol or drugs knowing full well that this increases confusion and even susceptibility to admit to things “they may have forgotten.”
Interrogating teenagers including those under 18 without their parent present despite all of the problems that may come with that.
Interrogating somebody will low iQs or special needs without bringing in specialists. They may feign ignorance. “They seemed ok to me.”
They will arrest and leave somebody in a cell for a day or more in an orange jumpsuit to soften you up, causing exhaustion and increased fear and more all without the opportunity to talk to your loved ones.
They will make veiled threats against family members and other loved ones by asking whether they are the ones who should be in this cell.
While more rare than it used to be, officers have been know to threaten a suspect with physical violence and even commit violence upon people in an effort to coerce a conviction out of somebody they “know” did it. Of course, such a confession would be inadmissible but that has no stopped some officers.
“Whats happens when the ends justifies the means? Remember 9/11? The U.S. stood against torture until the U.S. decided that waterboarding, something the U.S. itself previously called torture, became an enhanced interrogation technique? How far will a cop go for a guy who “did it?”
What about Miranda?
Of course, Miranda. Yes it exists and is an extraordinarily important shield to help protect a person’s rights. However, it all depends upon when this is introduced and whether a person is truly give the opportunity to understand what it means and what they might be waiving. Further, officers frequently see this as a hurdle to get past so you might imagine how this can just be characterized as a simple formality so that we can just talk about “the truth.”
When police are able to obtain a coerced conviction during an interrogation, an experienced Minnesota criminal defense attorney and fight to exclude those statements from evidence. There are constitutional protections that can and should be employed in your defense. In fact, it is critical. This fact alone, as stated above, is frequently the singular most damning piece of evidence in the arsenal of the state. Make sure that you contact an experienced criminal defense attorney and earliest opportunity, even before you have any police contact. This call can change everything.
As you can see, false confessions and coerced confessions happen. It is important for you the have a criminal defense lawyer who not only understands the law but knows how to effectively fight for your rights in the first place. It takes knowledge and experience and a lot of time to know what it takes to win. If you need help, call Jack Rice Defense for a free confidential consultation or call 651-447-7650 or 612-227-1339.