If you haven't heard, an 8 year old boy confessed to shooting his father and there is video of the confession.
Legal pundits are generally shocked that law enforcement conducted this interview for several reasons: One, because it was a child who just lost his dad. Two, because the cops were basically putting words in his mouth. Three, that if the confession was the truth, there is no way it would be admissible at trial and now the police have "blown" the case.
As a lawyer, I find this story interesting because it made me think about the laws that protect citizens from being the victims of coerced confessions. I'm sure that the police in this case believed they were doing the right thing. My opinion is that they intentionally pressured the kid to say that he did it. The kid is too young to understand that he has the right to an attorney to look out for him. Whether he did it or not, there can be no disputing the fact that the interrogators' convinced him the right thing to do was to admit to the crime, as opposed to telling the truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment