An Inocennt Man

Is the ending satisfying, or is it open-ended?

Loved Innocent Man. Well done all around.

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Makes you wonder though how the police got those poor boys to confess to crimes they didn't commit..

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Tons of information out there on false confessions. The docuseries Confession Tapes on Netflix is really good too.

Innocent Man on Tigerdroppings

The best part was two of them describing the same blouse worn by the victim, yet it wasn’t close to the actual shirt she was wearing. Only the detectives knew about that blouse because one of her friends said it was the last thing she saw her in when interviewed by the police. Crazy stuff

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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.

Here's a basic rule all should follow: Never talk to a cop.

Applies to guilty and innocent alike.