re: An Inocennt Man

quote:

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+ extremely long interrogation without attorney present + DA willing to do anything to get a case solved

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In school we watched a cut-down version of a 72-hour "police interview" and at first the guy was like..."I didn't do shite why am I in here man, this is bullshite."

Then after 24 hours he was basically thinking maybe he had something to do with the murder but was too high to remember.

Then at 72 hours he was crying and begging for mercy and saying he didn't mean to kill that girl.

(Oh and he asked the cops, should I talk to a lawyer and they said - now why would you want to do that - we're trying to help you, that's just gonna make us think you're guilty and trying to hide something from us.)

* You actually have to ask for a lawyer point-blank and be refused to get a confession suppressed. You can't just ask if you should talk to lawyer or something.

Watching this stuff is like some pyschological movie where you're kidnapped by the Russians and taken to some Gulag for re-education and you break so easily.

The biggest fallacy among the general public regarding criminal trials is:

1) Police are honest
2) DA is just looking for the truth (when the absolute opposite is true - he's looking for a perfect conviction rate to advance his career.)
3) If you're arrested, you're guilty (nothing could be further from the truth) - police arrest people all the time based on slim probable cause just to get them in custory and interrogate them.)
4) People wouldn't confess to something they didn't do.

Yet it happens all the time.

The big hero in this series and in other series, making us rethink the whole criminal justice system is Barry Scheck of the Innoncence project that has used DNA to free so many.