Bluhm Blog

Connecticut's Central Park Jogger Case

 

                                    

Diane Polan, Defense Attorney                vs.          New Haven Det. Clarence Willoughby

 

Connecticut’s Central Park Jogger Case

    Last week, a New Haven, Ct jury acquitted 14 year old Kwame Wells-Jordan on charges connected to the armed robbery and murder of 70 year Herbert Fields in August 2006.
In her closing, defense attorney Diane Polan urged the jury: " Don’t let this be Connecticut’s ‘Central Park Jogger’ case... The police here did not “connect the dots;”  once they had the boys’s statements on tape (two other juveniles had falsely confessed) they did not follow evidence that two different teenagers had committed the crimes.

    How did Polan persuade the jury to acquit her client in the absence of DNA evidence proving that the confession was false.  She did it the old-fashioned way -- by leaving no stone unturned in her investigation, by painting a picture of police coercion, by educating the jury about false confessions and the vulnerabilities of youthful suspects, by pointing out errors in the confessions and inconsistencies among the confessions, and by pointing the finger at two other suspects who were linked to the crime by physical evidence.  Even with such a no holds-barred defense, it is hard to win confession cases.  When it succeeds,  the defense should be celebrated and studied.  Here is a quick case-study (any factual errors are mine).

The Investigation 

    On August 1, 2006, 70 year old Herbert Fields was sitting in his car, in New Haven Connecticut, waiting for his girlfriend to return from her house. Minutes later, he was shot to death, the victim of an apparent armed robbery. A police canvas of the area turned up little useful information. Witnesses saw two black teenagers, ages 15-16, one of whom was taller than the other, one who had light skin color and the other who was medium-complected. With no suspects and no leads after two weeks, New Haven police officers began to lean on neighborhood teens for information about the Field shooting. One such interview produced another lead- “I heard that Bo did it,” said one arrestee, “I think he lives on Willis.”

 

    The “Bo” on Willis was a 16 year old named Bobby Johnson. Two New Havendetectives assigned to the homicide-- Detectives Clarence Willoughby (see above) and Michael Quinn  arrived at Johnson’s home and asked his mother to take Bobby downtown for some questioning. Despite hours of interrogation, the police were unable to get a confession and released Johnson.  Johnson did tell the police that when he heard the sirens, he ran to the crime scene to see what was up.

    While at Bobby’s house, they had seen his firend, Kwame Wells-Jordan, a tall lanky 14-year old. The next day, they returned to Johnson’s house, where they saw Kwame  sitting on a stoop. They took him downtown for questioning. Wells-Jordan claimed that he also knew nothing of the crime. He told police a similar story as his friend Bobby Johnson, admitting to being curious and going to the crime scene with Johnson after the shooting took place. Citing “discrepancies” between the stories of the two boys, the police came to view Johnson and Wells-Jordan as suspects. They pursued the two boys with a vengeance, hell-bent on proving that they were the culprits. 

    In early September, about a month after the killing, Detectives Willoughby and Quinn picked up Johnson again. This time they turned up the heat. They told Johnson that a palmprint found on the passenger side of the car was his (a lie). Feeling like he had no choice but to confess, Johnson said he was the shooter. His accomplice, he said, was his 16 year old cousin Michael Holmes. The confession, but not the interrogation, was captured on audiotape. 

    Willoughbyand Quinn next turned to Holmes. The detectives confronted Holmes with Johnson’s statement and tried for over an hour to get Holmes to admit his involvement. But Holmes would have none of it. According to Holmes, Willoughbynext took a page right out of the interrogation playbook used by the detectives in the Central Park Jogger case. They told Holmes that if he simply said he was there- “a witness”-- but ran away after the shots were fired, he would not be charged. Holmes took the bait. And by the way,Willoughby asked “wasn’t Kwame there as well?” Holmes said “yes.” Again, only the confession statement was recorded.

 

    The next day, the police tried in vain to get Wells-Jordan to confess.  According to Wells-Jordan’s aunt and legal guardian, Julia Sykes, Detective Willoughby told Wells-Jordan that the palm print was his. Wells-Jordan held firm, saying “it’s not mine” and even offered to  give the detectives a fresh set of his own palm prints to compare. When Willoughby began to get even more aggressive, Sykes decided to take Wells-Jordan and leave. 

   In mid-September, the police got an arrest warrant based on Johnson’s own confession and that of his cousin , Michael Holmes.  Once Johnson was in custody, Willoughby and Quinn again pressured Johnson, telling him he had to “fix” his story and implicate Kwame and telling him “we know he was involved.” Johnson, alone and under arrest for murder, finally gave in and told another story, this time claiming that Wells-Jordan grabbed the victim’s wallet and took his money. That second confession gave the police the probable cause to get an arrest warrant for Wells-Jordan.

 

    In November, the police arrested Wells-Jordan pursuant to an arrest warrant based completely on Holmes’s statement and the second confession of Johnson implicating Wells-Jordan as his accomplice. Willoughbyand Quinn pressured Wells-Jordan to come clean, telling him that this was his last chance to help himself: “It’s your chance to tell your side of the story.”  After several hours of this, Wells-Jordan’s aunt gave up- “just tell them what they want to hear,” she told her nephew, “we’ll deal with this when it comes to court.” Wells-Jordan confessed.

 

The Trial 

    By the time of Wells-Jordan’s trial, Bobby Johnson had pleaded guilty to the murder and been sentenced to 38 years. The State expected him to be one of their star witnesses against Wells-Jordan. The other star-witness would be Holmes who was never charged in the case. With this testimony and Wells-Jordan’s statements, the State must have been confident in its ability to get a conviction against Wells-Jordan. 

    But Polan had a few tricks up her sleeve as well and caught a few unanticipated breaks. One big break was that Detective Willoughby had been arrested on charges of forgery, larceny, and making a false statement after he was allegedly caught stealing money and forging documents from a fund for confidential informants. He would not take the stand for the prosecution against Wells-Jordan, although he was brought into the courtroom and forced to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination (outside the presence of the jury). 

    And the State’s star witnesses- they both  turned out to be surprise star witnesses for the defense. In a move that stunned everyone in the courtroom, both Johnson and Holmes recanted their statements and blamed Willoughbyfor pressuring them into implicating themselves and into naming Wells-Jordan. The exchange between Johnson and Assistant
State’s Attorney James Clark grew so heated that it almost came to blows, with Clark trying to bait Johnson into fighting him in the courtroom.

 

    To undermine the reliability of Wells-Jordan’s statements, Polan relied on her cross-examination of Quinn to score some points, getting him to admit that he lied to Wells-Jordan when he told him that the palm prints were his. He referred to the tactic as “misinformation.”  When she asked "you mean that you lied to him, right?," Quinn had to say "yes." He Told the jury that he lies to suspects “to get them to tell the truth.” 

    She also called Julia Sykes to describe the intensity of the interrogation and Willoughby’s in-your-face tactics. Sykes served as Wells-Jordan’s proxy.  The fact that she broke, eventually telling her nephew to confess, must have made the jury think that if the interrogation was so intense as to break an adult, it must have had an even more powerful effect on a fourteen year old.

 

    Polan also called false confession expert Solomon Fulero who testified about the Reid technique and the special risks of false confessions when police used modern psychological interrogation techniques on juveniles. Fulero also testified about the central role of the evidence ploy. “The goal is to get somebody to the place where (they believe that) for them to say they did something is better for them than to say they didn’t,” Fulero testified, “even if they didn’t do it.” Fulero said police use “the evidence ploy” in which a suspect is falsely told of evidence against him. “This makes the person think his situation is hopeless and denials will be useless.” 

    Polan realized that simply relying on recantation evidence by two co-participants and evidence that police interrogation tactics can lead to false confessions, might not be enough to shake a jury’s faith in a confession. To succeed, the defense attorney in a false confession case has to persuade the jury not only that the confession is coerced and that the confession is unreliable, she has to give the jury a reason for believing that the confession is false. Unlike the Cental Park Jogger case, however, there was no DNA evidence to disprove Wells-Jordan’s confession. Polan had to convince the jury that the confession was false  by highlighting the inconsistencies among the confessions of the co-defendants, the lack of any physical evidence linking her client to the crime (and the presence of physical evidence linking others to the crime), the many errors contained in the “facts” provided by her client in his confession, and by attacking the credibility of the police officers who obtained the confessions. 

    Polan demonstrated that the boys’ confessions did not match the objective evidence of the crime and were probably scripted by the police. For example, one of the boys told police that Fields was shot after he bumped into Michael on the street. This was clearly false as Fields was shot in his car. Another statement claimed that Kwame had grabbed Fields’ money out of his wallet and threw the wallet back into the car. This was clearly false as the wallet was secured in a closed center console and the police officer who processed the car testified that it had been “undisturbed.”

    Polan not only underscored that there was no physical evidence linking her clients to the crime, she told them that the only scientific evidence in the case both cleared Wells-Jordan and (Johnson and Holmes) and identified the likely perpetrators. In August 2006, less than a month after Fields was killed, 17-year old Larry Mabery, who had a lengthy criminal record of violence, was shot to death in New Haven. Police recovered a weapon on Mabery. Ballistics tests proved that this weapon was the same weapon that was used to kill Fields. Police also found a match to the palm print on the passenger side of Fields’ car. The print matched to Richard Benson, another teenager, with a history of weapons offenses. Benson is Mayberry’s first cousin. Polan brought Benson into the courtroom and forced him to “take the Fifth” to any questions about the shooting. She also subpoenaed Benson and Mabery’s grandmother who testified that the cousins were “as close as brothers.”

 

The Conclusion

    The acquittal of Wells-Jordan is a textbook case of how to defend a false confession case.  Although Wells-Jordan was acquitted, Polan does not see her work as done.  After all, Bobby Johnson is still locked up and will be for the remainder of the next thirty-plus years. Much of the evidence developed at Wells-Jordan’s trial can and should be used to reopen Johnson’s case. Polan is already scouting for the Connecticut Innocence Project or some other seasoned defense attorney to take on Johnson’s case.

    The Wells-Jordan case is yet another in a long line of false confession cases in Connecticut (Peter O’Reilly, David Saraceno) that underscore the need for Connecticut’s legislature or Supreme Court to require that interrogations (not just the final confession) of both adults and especially juvenile suspects be electronically recorded.   Perhaps,  the  acquittal  of  Bobby Johnson and  mandatory electronic recording of interrogations will be  part of the legacy of Connecticut's Central Park Jogger case.

 

 

Meet Nathaniel Hatchett: The Latest Juvenile False Confessor Exonerated by DNA

Nathaniel Hatchett hugging his brothers after his release from prison after servind 12 years for a rape he did not commit.

Nathaniel Hatchett was just 17 years of age when he decided to take a car that was parked outside of his house for a joyride.  Little did he know that this car theft would lead to a wrongful rape conviction that would keep him confined for the next 12 years.  The car, as it turned out, had been reported stolen by a rape victim who had been carjacked, abducted, and raped by a hooded man who stalked her as she was leaving her place of work in Sterling, Michigan.

Three things contributed to Hatchett's wrongful conviction: a false confession, a mistaken identification by the victim, and prosecutorial misconduct -- failing to turn over exculpatory DNA evidence and misleading jurors about that evidence at trial. 

Prosecutors should have known the confession was unreliable says Hatchett's attorney, Donna McKneelen, co-director of the Innocence Project at Cooley Law School.  The confession did not fit the facts of the crime.  Hatchett gave police the wrong day of the crime, he said there was a struggle when there was none, and he described sexual acts that never occurred.  And of course, there was the DNA exclusion.  DNA tests of bodily fluids found in the car and on the victim's clothing excluded Hatchett.  Nevertheless, prosecutors told the jury that the DNA could have belonged to the victim's husband.  But advanced DNA testing at the time proved it was not the husband's DNA.  These additional test results (which form the basis of the prosecutorial misconduct) provided further proof at the time that Hatchett's confession was false.

Why did Hatchett confess?  It's the classic story of many juvenile false confessions -- police pressure overwhelms a young and unsophisticated teenager and he gives in to bring the interrogation to a halt.  As Hatchett describes it:  "They kept telling me what to say, and I got confused. I told them I didn't rape nobody but they wouldn't listen. I was 17, and scared, and I didn't know what to think. I started getting tired, and I just told them what they wanted to hear."

The false confession in this case is perhaps the easiest thing to understand (although extremely difficult for juries to get) but what is baffling is the prosecutorial misconduct.  Deceiving a jury and burying exculpatory evidence are potential license-losing offenses if caught.  Few prosecutors are willing to engage in such overtly unethical tactics.  The good news is that there will be a forum for prosecutors to explain these actions -- Hatchett has already retained a civil lawyer who plans to file suit in federal court.  Stay tuned.

 

False Confessions and Children

Kudos to Brian Dickerson of the Detroit Free Press for his excellent series on the way in which a West Bloomfield detective used false evidence ploys and other standard psychologically coercive interrogation tactics against a 13 year old boy with Asperger's in an effort to get the boy to incriminate his father in the sexual abuse of his younger autistic sister.  As Dickerson rightly recognized, these tactics are standard but dangerous when used against children and against the disabled and are especially uncalled when used against victims or witnesses of sexual abuse.  Dickerson also deserves credit for recognizing that without the videotape of this interrogation, the result in this case -- the dismissal of charges against the father -- could well have been different.  This case is a haunting reminder of at least two things that often gets lost in the debate over videotaping -- it is essential that all interviews of children be electronically recorded, not just interviews of suspects (but also of victims and witnesses); and 2) the distinction between an interview and an interrogation is often more imagined than real.  It is a police-made distinction and one which the courts too often defer to but to the witness, victim, or suspect who is on the receiving end of such questioning, it all feels the same.

BRIAN DICKERSON

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/OPINION01/803200329/0/COL04 (editorial )
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080316/NEWS03/80316001/0/COL04  (Video)
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/COL04/803230562
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080317/COL04/803170336/0/COL04 (Part 2: Sex abuse case against Oakland couple was legal horror show)
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080316/COL04/803160557/0/COL04 (Part 1: How to Wreck a boy's life?")

The Case for Barry Beach's Innocence

Was Barry Beach wrongfully convicted of the Murder of Kim Nees in Poplar, Montana more than two decades ago?  Beach, who confessed to Lousiana authorities, after he was threatened with the death penalty, recanted his confession and has long maintained his innocence.  In a recent episode of Dateline NBC, Beach's lawyers from Centurion Ministries (the oldest and one of the most successful innocence projects in the US) make their case for Beach's innocence.  It is a compelling case.  Without DNA evidence, CM's investigators put forward over 30 witnesses to the Montana Board of Pardons and Paroles.  These witnesses not only raised questions about the reliability of the confession but also supported a decades old theory that the murder was committed by several local girls who were jealous of Kim because she was the class valedictorian and was planning on getting out of Poplar.  It's not easy to turn over a rock that has been buried for over 20 years, but CM did so and some of the town's secrets began to surface.  Although the Board denied them relief, here's hoping that more people have the courage to come forward and the full story of this murder mystery comes out.  Here's hoping that when it does, Barry Beach will be exonerated.  The Dateline Special and other information about Barry's troublling conviction can be found at this website:

http://www.montanansforjustice.com/main.html

Timothy Masters is Free, Hopefully for Good

Timothy Masters (not a false confession case), a man many believe was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Peggy Hettrick in 1987, walked out of prison for the first time yesterday after serving 10 years.  In a classic case of tunnelvision, local police and prosecutors (Fort Collins, CO) focused almost exclusively on Masters, who was only 15 years of age at the time of the crime, because he lived closely to where the crime occurred, claimed he saw the body on the morning after Hettrick's death but did not report it to police, and because police found violent drawings in Masters's home.  Despite subjecting the teen to hours of grueling, accusatory interrogations (captured on videotape), Masters held his ground, insisting that he was innocent of the crime.  Nevertheless, police officers continued to pursue him as a suspect, finally bringing charges against him nearly a decade after Hettrick's death.  The case against him was all smoke and mirrors -- not a shred of physical evidence linked him to the crime -- he was convicted largely on the basis of a forensic pyschologist's opinion that Masters's drawings were those of a killer.  The case has divided law enforcement and others in Fort Collins for years, even causing several detectives to decry the conviction, but Masters's convictions were affirmed by Colorado courts at every level.  For the past year, a team of defense attorneys led by David Wymore and Maria Liu, have been litigating a post-conviction motion and have exposed police and prosecutorial misconduct in the investigation, including the destruction of potentially exculpatory evidence and the failure of prosecutors to turn over evidence of other suspects that could have been crucial to the defense.  The final straw came last week when new, sophisticated DNA testing from a lab in the Netherlands, dealt the State's case a fatal blow.  The evidence not only excluded Masters but identified one of her former boyfriends who was a suspect before tunnelvision took over.

The special prosecutor who did not oppose bail for Masters has several weeks to decide how to proceed but it is doubtful that charges will be reinstated against Masters.  Once he is exonerated, he will become the first DNA exoneration in the state, leaving all to wonder just how many more Tim Masters are languishing in prison. 

After my previous post commended the Times Herald Record and Lansing State Journal on their excellent investigative reporting in the Lebrew Jones and Claude McCollum piece, a valued reader wrote and told me to check out Miles Moffeit's incredible work covering the  the Masters' case in the Denver Post.  I have and concur that it is a first rate piece of investigative journalism, one that also utilizes video and web-based technology to make the case for Masters' innocence.  Check out some of this fine work, especially the video "Shaky Evidence" at:

http://www.denverpostplus.com/photoprojects/specialprojects/masters/masters.html

False confession stories on the web: Lebrew Jones and Claude McCollum

Christine Young's story about the wrongful conviction of Lebrew Jones and her role in uncovering the evidence that should, but has not yet, lead to a new trial for Jones -- breaks new ground in the use of web based interactive technology with classic investigative journalism.  A fine piece of writing about the 1987 murder of a prostitute and the man-child who police persuaded to give a statement implicating himself in her murder --is supplemented by great video interviews of some of the key players, an interactive map of the crime scene, and archival video of Jones's father -- Rufus "Speedy" Jones -- the great Jazz drummer who played for Count Basie, Duke Ellington and other big-band legends.  The fact that such a great story was produced by the Times Herald-Record -- a mid-sized paper covering the Hudson Valley area of New York -- and not the NY Times or The Washington Post -- makes the feat all the more impressive.  In this age where newspapers are cutting staff to keep up the profits and fear abounds in the news industry that readers are getting their news from television, the internet, blogs, and sources other than print media, the Times Record-Herald has shown that it is possible to blend the new media and the old media with spectacular results. 

Especially compelling are interviews of Lebrew's younger brother Chanel (describing how Lebrew did not have it in his gentle nature to commit such a brutal rape and murder) and Micki Hall's mother Lois discussing why she does not think Lebrew killed her daughter.  The most compelling video segment, however, is the footage of Lebrew playing drums on the desk in the prison visiting room, superimposed on video of his father in his heyday.  Kudos to the paper, to Christine, and to all of the other staff who worked on this terrific story, available on the net at:

http://thr-investigations.com/lebrewjones/. 

Here's hoping that the New York Times and other New York media rally to Lebrew's cause and bring pressure on the Manhattan DA's office to do the right thing here by vacating Lebrew's conviction. 

The Lansing State Journal just published its investigative autopsy of the wrongful conviction of Claude McCollum, "Guilty Until Proven Innocent."  It is also a terrific piece of reporting with an interactive timeline of key events in the McCollum saga.  The Journal retained experts to analyze the trial of McCollum, followed McCollum as he tries to adjust to life as a free man after spending nearly eighteen months incarcerated, and recommended ways in which the system can improve to prevent such a tragedy from reoccurring.   The video footage of McCollum speaks volumes about how difficult it is for someone of McCollum's limited intellectual abilities to find steady work and to gain some sense of financial independence.  McCollum, described as a "drifter" in press accounts at the time of his arrest, seems to be drifting through his post-exoneration life, desperately looking for someone to lend him a helping hand not with a hand-out but with employment.  Here's hoping that someone in the Lansing community is moved by the story and reaches out to  Claude.  http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage 

Both stories speak volumes about the power of so-called confession evidence to a jury and just how vulnerable the mentally disabled are to police persuasion. Neither man actually confessed (Claude gave a hypothetical account of how he might have committed the crime if sleepwalking and Lebrew described how Hall committed suicide by beating herself to death with a rock) but juries accepted these ludicrous stories as evidence that the men were lying and convicted them even though the stories in both cases were uncorroborated and both men had what turned out to be excellent alibis.

2007: Another Historic Year in False Confessions

2007 was a year of big highs (Travis Hayes is officially exonerated and Marty Tankleff is freed!) and big lows (Barry Beach and Richard LaPointe are not). It was a year where the momentum in the effort to pass legislation to require law enforcement to electronically record police interrogations slowed (only North Carolina enacted legislation, although California and Rhode Island again came close). But it was also a year when the issue of false confessions and recording interrogations penetrated the public consciousness with stories about the Justice Department's firing of US Attorney Paul Charlton, the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes, the CIA's torture of detainees and the resulting false confessions, and even the Senator Larry Craig fiasco.  2008 has already started with a bang -- Barack Obama, who championed the electronic recording of homicide interrogations in Illinois, is off to a great start in his run for President -- and  Marty Tankleff will be officially exonerated in mid-January.  I also expect that there will be significant developments in the cases of John Spirko, the West Memphis Three, Juan Rivera, Bruce Lisker, Billy Wayne Cope and other cases of false confessors for whom justice has been denied for many years. Stay tuned.  2008 should be every bit as exciting as 2007.

JANUARY • Mississippi Sup. Ct reverses murder conviction of Tyler Edmonds who at 13 confessed to assisting his half-sister in killing her husband • Marty Tankleff's defense team files its appeal of Judge Braslow's denial of a new trial; 31 former federal prosecutors, numerous exonerated false confessors, Marty's former classmates, and others file amicus briefs in support • Dr. Phil show on Tankleff case and other false confession cases airs • DNA clears Matthew Fields, a Lousville man, who falsely confessed to breaking into a woman's home and raping her • After serving ten years in prison, Travis Hayes of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is formally exonerated of a murder to which he had confessed and which had landed his co-defendant, Ryan Matthews, on Louisiana's death row • Ozem Goldwire, a Brooklyn man jailed for over a year after police coerced him into falsely confessing to the murder of his sister, is exonerated by prosecutors • 

FEBRUARY • Northwestern Law School hosts meeting between Robert Wilson, exonerated after serving nine years in prison for a knife attack, and June Siler, the victim who had erroneously identified Wilson (who also falsely confessed) as her attacker • Almost four years after DNA pointed to another killer, Queens, NY prosecutors drop charges against Lourdes Torres, a 31 year old illiterate Mexican immigrant, who had falsely confessed to stabbing her lover • In aftermath of a botched rape case, Madison, WI police department issues new guidelines calling on its officer to use deception only as a last resort when interrogating rape victims • Daniel Gladden, subject of an investigation by Pete Shellem of the Harrisburg Patriot News, is freed after serving 12 years in prison for a murder now believed to have been committed by a known serial killer; in exonerating Gladden, prosecutors must renounce confession of James Carson, who falsely confessed and implicated Gladden •

MARCH • For 3rd year in a row, Rhode Island Senate passed bill requiring electronic recording of murder interrogations (once again bill fails to become law). 

APRIL • DNA exonerations reach 200! • 8 Million Dollar settlement paid to Larry Ollins and Omar Saunders, two of four Illinois teenagers wrongfully convicted of murdering medical student Lori Roscetti • Justice Department's internal debate over whether to require federal agents to record interrogations surfaces in connection with dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys, after fired Arizona U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton links his firing to his insistence in Arizona that interviews be recorded •

MAY • Byron Halsey, who served two decades in a New Jersey prison after he falsely confessed to the murder and rape of two children, is exonerated by DNA evidence which also identifies the true perpetrator • James Owens, imprisoned for nearly 20 years for a rape-murder in Baltimore, MD, is granted a new trial after DNA evidence excludes him and his co-defendant James Thompson (who falsely confessed) • Cook County, IL. prosecutors, in trial of Juan Luna for the murders of seven people in a Brown's Chicken in 1993, shred false confession of earlier suspect John Simonek • Wisconsin Criminal Justice Study Commission release Postion Paper on False Confessions • Kenzi Snider, a former Marshall University student, who was accused of killing another student in Seoul, South Korea in 2001, files suit against FBI agents who allegedly coerced who into falsely confessing •

JUNE • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reverses murder convictions of Michael Scott, one of several defendants charged in the deaths of four teenage girls in the "Yogurt Shop" murders of 1991 in Austin, TX. • Barry Beach, imprisoned for more than two decades for the murder of Kimberly Ann Nees, presents his case for clemency based on actual innocence to the Montana Board of Pardons and Paroles • Broward County Sheriff's Office pays $2.7 million to settle claims of three men who were wrongfully incarcerated for sixteen months  based on false confession • Sacramento DA drops conspiracy charges against teens in non-existent revenge plot at McLatchy High School, admitting that law enforcement officers obtained two false confessions from fourteen year olds •

JULY • McKinney, TX officers forced to admit that James Jones, who falsely confessed to a quadruple murder, is innocent after new charges are brought against unrelated suspects • REPORT issued in Jeffrey Deskovic (Peekskill, NY) case lays blame on all parties -- police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges -- but takes police to task for selectively recording parts of the interrogations and for interrogating Deskovic "in a manner that exploited his youth, naivete, and psychological vulnerability" • Madison County, NY Judge Biagio DiStefano, vacates rape conviction of Dan Lackey (despite fact that Lackey confessed) when new evidence surfaces calling into question the credibility of the victim • Robert Wilson files lawsuit against City of Chicago and Cook County, alleging, among other things, that Chicago police officers coerced him into falsely confessing to the assault of June Siler • James Lee Cox, who confessed to the 20 year old unsolved rape-murder of Karen Weber in Prairie City, Iowa, is released from jail after six months, when prosecutors acknowledge that his confession was false • Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio grants John Spirko, a death row inmate convicted on the basis of false inculpatory statements, a record-setting seventh reprieve so that extensive DNA testing on items recovered from the crime scenes can be finished; Spirko's execution date is moved to January 2008.

AUGUST • North Carolina becomes the 8th state to require electronic recording of interrogations (in homicide cases) • Trial court judge dismisses post-conviction petition for a new trial of Richard LaPointe, a man many believe falsely confessed to the murder of his wife's grandmother in 1987 • Montana Board of Pardons and Paroles rejects Barry Beach's petition for a pardon or parole, preventing him from receiving any relief from the Governor • Prosecutors in Detroit drop murder charges against Devin Plummer, a 17 year old who confessed to a shooting, after gun residue tests show he could not have fired a gun •

SEPTEMBER • Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent 16 years in prison for a murder which DNA later proved was committed by another man, files lawsuit against Peekskill Police officers who coerced him into falsely confessing • Historic conference in El Paso, TX, sponsored by University of Texas El-Paso and Ohio University, gathers together over 200 psychologists, criminologists, lawyers, police officers, interrogation trainers and others, to discuss research on false confessions and police interrogations • In Fort Worth, toxicology tests clear Brittany Hart, who had confessed to killing Bruce Therens in a motel room • United States Senator from Idaho Larry Craig refuses to resign as planned, choosing instead to recant his guilty plea • Questions begin to surface about the conviction of Claude McCollum of Lansing, Michigan for the murder of a Lansing Community College professor Carolyn Kronenberg in 2005 after police arrest an alleged serial killer (Matthew Macon) in connection with numerous unsolved slayings of women in Lansing • McCollum is later exonerated of the murder after new evidence shows McCollum was in another school building at the time that he claimed (hypothetically) to be assaulting Kronenberg and Matthew Macon purportedly confessed to the killing •

OCTOBER •  The same DNA evidence which led a trial court to grant a new trial to James Thompson, Jr. in his 20 plus year old conviction for a rape-murder in Baltimore, MD does not result in a new trial for his co-defendant James Owens (who confessed) • Appeals court hears oral arguments in Marty Tankleff case • Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoes bill to require California law enforcement agents to electronically record stationhouse interrogations of suspects • United States Court of Appeals for Second Circuit reinstates lawsuit of Abdullah Higazy against FBI agent who coerced him into implicating himself in the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Towers • Powerful new evidence of actual innocence is submitted in a federal court in Arkansas in the case of the West Memphis Three; extensive DNA testing does not implicate the three teens convicted of murdering three small boys in a satanic ritual but does lidentify a found on the shoelaces used to bind the boys to the stepfather of one of the victims to the crime scene •

NOVEMBER •

DECEMBER • City of Chicago announces it is prepared to settle lawsuits for $19.8 million of four men who were pardoned by Governor George Ryan on ground of actual innocence after evidence showed that the men had been tortured by former Police Commander Jon Burge and men acting under his command • Court rules that lawsuit of Central Park Jogger defendants may proceed against the city of New York • Kevin Fox, the Wilmington, IL. man who was coerced by Will County detectives into confessing to killing his daughter Riley, wins civil judgement of $15.5 million against Will County • Marty Tankleff is granted a new trial by New York appeals court (within two weeks, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota announces that he will not try Tankleff, effectively ending Tankleff's long ordeal to be vindicated in the murder of his parents).

Claude McCollum Exonerated!: Questions Being Asked About What Went Wrong

(Photo by Rod Sanford, Lansing State Journal)

Claude McCollum was first freed on bond, then his electronic tether was removed, and finally, Ingham County Prosecutor dismissed all of the charges against McCollum.  The process from the time McCollum was granted a new trial until the time of his exoneration moved quickly (about a month) because of the diligence of the prosecutor and because of the excellent reporting of the Lansing State Journal reporters (primarily Kevin Grasha) who kept the pressure on with story after story detailing the collapse of the case.  What lessons can be learned from this tragedy?  When a plane crashes, the FAA and other agencies conduct a thorough review of all the available evidence to find the cause of the crash and to learn how to prevent such crashes in the future.  A similar such analysis must be conducted in Michigan, preferably by an outside agency with no connection to the Lansing Police Department, the Ingham County Prosecutors, or any other law enforcement agency connected to the case.  Michigan may want to consider creating an Innocence Commission like those established in a number of state.  Any such report should be made public.  Until such reports are released, however, some lessons are clear:

1) Michigan must join the 8 states and the District of Columbia that require electronic recording of all interviews and custodial interrogations of suspects (at least in homicide cases).  Parts of McCollum's interrogations were not recorded, making it impossible to determine if the facts in McCollum's confession that he did get right came from McCollum or were suggested to him by police.  If they have the equipment to record some of the interrogation, then they have no excuse for their failure to record the entire conversation.

2) The so-called confession from McCollum should not have been admitted into evidence.  "Hypothetical statements" are not confessions and are not statements against penal interest or admissions.  Such statements are unreliable hearsay, the probative value of which is greatly outweighed by the prejudice to the defendant. They should not be admitted into evidence.

3) Confessions must be corroborated before being admitted into evidence.  Law enforcement officers must assess whether the details of the confession fit the objectively knowable facts of the crime.  If there is a fit, they must ask, did the suspect provide non-public information that only the true perpetrator could have known.  They must not only look to whether the suspect got some facts right but whether he made mistakes or was unable to provide key details when pressed by police (McCollum's statement was short on details about what the victim looked like, what she was wearing, etc). and it was filled with errors.  They must examine whether the suspect could lead police officers to any information that they did not know (McCollum could not lead them to items presumed missing from the crime scene).  But perhaps most important, investigations do not end when a suspect confesses.  Investigators must evaluate a confession in light of all of the evidence and seek to corroborate the confession. If new information comes to light which calls into question the reliability of the confession, they must reexamine the confession, not try to dismiss the evidence or explain it away as being inconsistent with their theory. Once the DNA from under the victim's fingernails excluded McCollum, prosecutors and police should have reassessed their case and reopened the investigation instead of proceeding full speed ahead against McCollum.  The fact that they proceeded against McCollum even though they had video evidence that he was elsewhere at the time of the murder was another warning sign that they ignored.  This was a trainwreck that could have and should have been avoided.  Not only did they imprison an innocent man but they may have left a violent predator out on the streets to wreak havoc on other innocents in the community.

4) Lansing prosecutors should have an open file in criminal cases and there should be reciprocal discovery with defense attorneys.  There is no reason why a report in which a detective says that Claude McCollum is caught on video in a different building on campus at the time of the murder should not have been produced.  When someone's life is on the line, prosecutors and police officers' should not be allowed to play hide and seek with such important documents.  Even if prosecutors used the video in their case against McCollum, they obviously misled the jury by failing to tell the jury that the video actually exculpated McCollum.

5) The forensic testimony of the "forensic scientist" who testified that a fiber found on the victim was "consistent" with a fiber found from McCollum's clothing should never have been admitted into evidence.  Such testimony is junk science of the highest order and gives the appearance of corroborative evidence where none exists.  The circumstances behind this testimony should be investigated -- was she pressured by the authorities to come up with some evidence to corroborate the confession?

6) Police officers and prosecutors need to receive training on how to interrogate mentally limited suspects and on false confessions.  In the wake of a series of false confessions in Broward County, Fla., State's Attorney Michael Satz brought false confession expert Richard Leo to Broward and mandated that all officers and prosecutors be trained on how to recognize false confessions.  Ingham County prosecutor Dunnings should consider doing the same thing.  The kinds of tactics used in the McCollum case are especially dangerous when used with vulnerable, highly compliant suspects.

7) The press should be careful about the language they use in describing criminal suspects.  Virtually every story described McCollum as "homeless" and as a "drifter", two words that conjure fear in the hearts of the public and which may have created an environment in which it became easier for the public (and the jury) to believe that he was capable of such a brutal crime.  McCollum may have not had a fixed address but the man was trying desperately to improve his situation, working overtime to get a business degree.  Most importantly, there was nothing in his background that suggested he was capable of such a violent sadistic crime.

There will no doubt be other recommendations to follow once more information comes to light, including recommendations concerning how Mr. McCollum should be compensated for the 33 months he spent incarcerated (jail plus prison) but this should provide some fodder for discussion as Lansing and Michigan begins to grapple with the horror of what was done to Claude McCollum.

McCollum Out on Bond; Police Source Says Suspected Serial Killer Confessed to McCollum's Crime

Q: When does someone charged with murder not pose a threat to public safety?

A: When he is innocent.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for Claude McCollum.  Today, at a bond hearing,  prosecutors supported his release, telling the court that they do not believe he poses a threat to public safety. McCollum was released to an aunt pending a re-trial that is looking more and more like it will never happen.  Later in the day, more good news surfaced when a state police officer, breaking a gag rule, released the one nugget that we've all been waiting for -- suspected serial killer and rapist Matthew Macon confessed to the murder and sexual assault of Carolyn Kronenberg, the Lansing Community College Professor, whom McCollum was convicted of killing.  To see videos and photos of this glorious day, see Kevin Grasha's stories at: http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071016/NEWS01/710160353/1001/news&template=printart

 

DNA Evidence Gains New Trial for One Defendant but Not For Co-Defendant

It's been a full year since attorneys for James Owens Jr. and James Thompson, Jr. announced that DNA testing excluded them as the source of semen found inside the victim of a 1988 stabbing and sexual assault in Baltimore City, a crime for which they were convicted and incarcerated for 19 years. The pair - friends for years - became wrapped up in the high-profile Williar case when Thompson claimed to have found the murder weapon.  Thompson, who suffered a head injury as a young man and was low-functioning, was lured by a police offer of a $1,000 reward for information in the case.  He gave police a switchblade knife that he said was the murder weapon. Police pressed him for details on how he found the weapon and eventually accused him of taking part in the crime.  In a Perry-Mason like moment at Owens' trial, while testifying against Owens, Thompson confessed that he, too, was at the scene of the crime, telling a jury that he masturbated as he watched Owens rape and kill Williar. 

Owens was convicted of felony murder but acquitted of the rape charge. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.  No forensic evidence linked him to the crime, although prosecutors implied that the semen was his.  A jailhouse snitch also testifed against Owens.  During Thompson's trial, prosecutors said a pubic hair found at the scene matched Thompson's and that his blue jeans were stained with the victim's blood. Hair evidence has largely been discredited, and recent testing of Thompson's jeans showed the blood stain to be from a man, not a woman.

In May of this year, prosecutors joined with Owens' defense attorney in seeking a new trial for Owens.  That motion was granted.  But prosecutors refused to join in a defense motion for a new trial for Thompson.  In a decision released yesterday, prosecutors prevailed. Judge Marcella A. Holland wrote that while the DNA evidence shows that James Thompson Jr. did not commit the rape, it "does not show that the petitioner is innocent of the underlying crime of burglary, coupled with his confession stating that he burglarized the house as the victim was murdered."  To Holland, Thompson's 1988 confession outweighed the DNA evidence.  “It seems readily apparent from [Thompson’s] testimony that he indeed burglarized the home of the victim the night of the murder,” Holland wrote. “DNA does not remove [him] from the scene of the crime.”

It is grossly unfair for one defendant to get a new trial under these circumstances while a second defendant is denied a trial simply because one defendant confessed and the other did not.  Owens was convicted, in part, based on Thompson's testimony.  The DNA results prove that Owens did not rape the victim in this case -- in other words, they prove that Thompson's confession was false as it related to Owens.  The two were inextricably linked together in this case.  At no point did prosecutors ever maintain that Thompson or Owens committed the crime with a third party.  It is far more likely that the Thompson's entire confession is false than it is that it is true with respect to his role in the crime but false with respect to his friend Owens' role, especially given the fact that there is not a shred of evidence to corroborate any part of Thompson's tale.