Bluhm Blog

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.

McCollum Case Moving Quickly Toward an Exoneration

Since my last post, events have been moving fast and furious in the case of Claude McCollum, events which appear to moving in the direction of the exoneration of McCollum.  Excellent reporting by Lansing State Journal reporter, Kevin Grasha, an alum of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, have no doubt contributed to the speed of these developments.  On Friday, Ingham County prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III joined with McCollum's appellate attorney in asking for a new trial for McCollum.  Although Dunnings was very careful not to disclose the new evidentiary basis for the new trial, crack reporting by Krasha discovered that the Lansing Community College Police turned over a videotape which apparently showed that McCollum was somewhere else on campus at the time of Carolyn Kronenburg's murder.  Why such evidence was not turned over earlier to the defense (it must have been available) will surely be a hot topic of discussion and surely contributed to the decision by Mr. Dunnings to seek a new trial.  Other evidence from the Michigan State Police appears to have also been discovered (presumably evidence linking suspected serial killer Matthew Macon to the murder) but the nature of this evidence has not been confirmed. 

Stuart Dunnings III

Grasha folllowed his articles on this development with a piece on the need for Lansing police to electronically record custodial interrogations of suspects and the ways in which recording of some of the earlier conversations between McCollum and Lansing Community College officers might have shed light on the reliability of his later incriminating statements.  The McCollum case is sure to revive stalled efforts in the Michigan legislature to require recording of interrogations.

Today, the latest shoe dropped when the appeals court granted McCollum's motion for a new trial.  Next to come will be new bond hearings which will tell us just how hard the prosecution is willing to fight to keep a potentially innocent man in prison. Meanwhile, the coverage of the case is moving from the front page and the metro section to the columnists and should soon penetrate the editorial board.  Although McCollum is not yet a free man and is not "exonerated", these developments track those of many other exonerations so such results may not be too far off in the future.  Stay tuned.

Serial Killers and False Confessors: Was Claude McCollum Wrongfully Convicted?

Is Claude McCollum innocent?

When police officers arrest a serial killer, the first thing they do is start looking at unsolved murders that may fit the profile of the killer.  In many cases, they are able to close out some of these cases either with the confession of the serial killer or through DNA or other forensic evidence.  What they rarely do -- and what they should do -- is look at some of the "solved cases" that may also fit the profile of the serial killer.  They should look at arrests or convictions of defendants against whom there was little forensic evidence or who gave confessions which were not corroborated.  The reason for this is simple:  there are numerous examples of police induced false confessions in the context of serial killing investigations. 

Serial killings send panic and terror among citizens like few other crimes and the pressure on police to solve them is intense.  This, in turn, can lead law enforcement officers to bring some of that pressure to bear on suspects, which can be a recipe for false confessions.  In our law review article, The Problem of False Confessions in the Post-DNA World, Richard Leo and I discuss several such cases, including those of Jerry Frank Townsend (cleared after the arrest of serial killer Eddie Lee Mosley), David Vazquez (cleared after the arrest of serial killer Timothy Spencer) and Stevie Ray Weaver (cleared after the arrest of Angel Maturino Resendiz).  One such case which cries out for a second look is the case of Claude McCollum, a man who was convicted over a year and a half ago of the murder of Lansing Community College professor Carolyn Kronenberg.

On a Sunday morning in January 2005, 60 year old Barbara Kronenberg was murdered in a classroom at Lansing Community College. She was brutally beaten, leaving her with a skull fracture, and she died as a result of a severed artery at the base of her brain.  She was also sexually assaulted with a remote control and strangled.  Police could not lift any fingerprints from the remote control.  DNA was recovered from hair taken from her fingernails, an indication that she struggled with the victim before being overcome.

Claude McCollum, a student, was taken into custody two days after her death, after police found him in a campus bathroom.  McCollum lived with friends, relatives, and stayed in motels during this time period and at times would spent the night at the school when he dozed off while studying.  Saddled with a low I.Q., McCollum often needed extra time to study while pursuing his business management degree at the college.

A year after Kronenberg's death, McCollum was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.  He always maintained his innocence.  No DNA evidence linked him to the crime. DNA taken from under the victim's fingernails did not match McCollum but belonged to an unidentified male.  McCollum was convicted on two pieces of evidence: 1) a single strand of fiber that experts said "might" have come from the victim's sweater; and 2) statements he gave to the police during an interrogation -- statements which he insists did not amount to a confession.  In a two hour interview with Lansing Community College and Lansing police detectives, McCollum told police how he could have committed the crime while sleepwalking. Detectives never asked him if he committed the crime and McCollum only discussed the crime in "hypothetical terms."  Because some of the crime scene facts seemed to match, he was charged and convicted.

A few weeks ago, Matthew Macon, was arrested and charged with at least six homicides dating back to at least 2004.  He was out of prison and living in the Lansing area at the time.  His latest string of homicides began after he was released  from prison early this year.
Macon's crimes bear some similarities to the Kronenberg case.  In at least three of the cases, the victims were severely beaten about the head and the face and in at least one of them the victim was sexually assaulted with a foreign object -- a stick. 

In light of these revelations, Lansing authorities must reopen the investigation into the Kronenberg case.  McCollum's non-confession is unreliable.  The sleepwalking suggestion likely came from the police in the first instance, part of a tactic police use to minimize a suspect's responsibility for a crime and to explain why a suspect has no memory of committing a crime that police claim he committed.  It is an effective tactic at getting suspects to confess but has been linked to many false confessions.  The fact that McCollum's statements may have accurately described some of the crime facts also does not mean his confession is reliable.  The key question is whether the information in the statements was non-public (was it in press accounts?) and whether the information was suggested to him by police in their conversations with him.  In many false confessions, police inadvertently or deliberately suggest crime scene facts to suspects who then incorporate them into thier statements.  At the very least, authorities must compare the DNA found in the victim's hands with Matthew Macon's -- such a test could prove once and for all if McCollum is innocent.

Lastly, McCollum, over the advice of his appellate counsel, gave an interview last week in the wake of the arrest of Macon.  What is striking to me is how careful he is not to accuse Macon of the crime -- another sign that speaks volumes about his character and to me, supports his claim of innocence.  When asked about Macon, McCollum told Kevin Grahsa, a reporter from the Lansing State Journal: "I don't want to go the route of slandering him, just for me to be innocent."

"Nothing but the Truth: New "Reality Show" on Polygraphs Coming Soon to your TV Screens

Have you ever cheated on your wife? Stolen money from your employer?  Paid off the cable guy for free cable? Seen a double feature on a single movie ticket? Surfed the net for porn?
Beat the polygraph and win big money, lose and be disgraced in front of family, friends, and an entire nation.  This is the premise of a hit television show in Colombia, a show which will soon air of FOX TV stations throughout the United States and the world.  The format of "Nothing But the Truth" is as simple as it is cruel, writes Joshua Goodman, in his article for the AP.  "If the participants truthfully answer 21 increasingly invasive questions, they walk away with $50,000. Tell a lie, though, and the lie detector test they took backstage betrays them before a studio audience packed with unsuspecting friends and loved ones."

The concept for the show was developed by Los Angeles-based producer Howard Schultz, who also sold a pilot to the Fox network that is expected to air in a few months. The show is reaping top ratings in Colombia and FOX is betting on a similar ratings bonanza here in the states. 

The show has also been a bonanza for private polygraph companies who have seen their phones ringing off the hook. " I went from receiving five inquires a week to ten a day,"  Juan Villota, owner of True Test, told Goodman. "Pooling together money from all the polygraph examiners in Colombia could never buy you that kind of publicity."

So what's wrong with increasing the market share for polygraph companies?  The answer is plenty. 

Polygraph tests, which use a blood-pressure cuff and electrodes to measure changes in a person's stress level when asked sensitive questions, do not accurately detect truth or deception.  An exhaustive 2003 study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences concluded that the tests have too many false results to be relied upon as job-screening tools. 

To its credit, and against the financial interest of some of its members, the American Polygraph Association, a trade group based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, tried unsuccessfully to get the Colombian Network Caracol to pull the program, fearing it could reinforce old stereotypes of the polygraph as a pseudoscientific truth machine.  "It's the sort of abuse we've been trying to stamp out for years," said Donald Krapohl, president of the trade group, which urges examiners to abide by a strict ethical code that rejects the kind of intrusive questioning viewers see on the show. 

For the readers of this blog, there are other issues.  Polygraphs are also often used to induce false confessions.  When suspects are told that they failed lie detector tests ("this machine does not lie"), they often become desperate and hopeless or begin to doubt their own memories and are easily manipulated into falsely confessing.  The show could reinforce the belief that polygraphs are infallible in the minds of the unsuspecting and innocent suspect and thus make it easier to use the results to coerce a false confession.  (One can even imagine police officers telling suspects -- "now you've seen how this works on t.v. right...no show is going to pay out $50,000 to a contestant based on a machine that does
not work").

Stay tuned for upcoming previews of this show on FOX TV on an affiliate near you.  It'll be interesting to see if the American Polygraph Association tries to persuade FOX affiliates from airing the show or if prosecutors, police officers, defenders, and others inour criminal justice system stand up to voice their objections to the show.