Jailhouse Informants Case Summary

What does the Central Park Five case and Martin Tankleff have in common? In both New York cases, the suspects provided false confessions to law enforcement, and they were found guilty because of interrogation tactics utilized by law enforcement. Several years after these cases, Kassin and Kiechel conducted a study that addresses the issue of false confessions.

In the video “The Confessions” presented by Frontline, a murder of a women that was committed by one man, quickly resulted into a false gang murder-rape scene committed by eight men. The victim, Michelle Bosko, was seen to be raped and killed in her apartment in Norfolk, Virginia. From the video, it has been proven that seven out of the eight men that confessed were innocent, but somehow they all received an unequal punishment. Because the innocent men admitted to a murder that they didn’t commit out of fear, they were all sentenced to some time in prison. The head detective, Glenn Ford, intimidated the men so much that they either were convinced that they were at the crime scene or they told him every detail that he wanted to hear.

“It is difficult to prove a causal relationship between permissible investigative and interrogatory deception and testimonial deception.  Police freely admit to deceiving suspects and defendants.  They do not admit to perjury, much less to the rationalization of perjury.  There is evidence, however of the acceptability of perjury as a means to the end of conviction.  The evidence is limited and fragmentary and is certainly not dispositive” (Skolnick, 1982).

Our criminal justice system has over time implemented and changed the means of sentencing and punishment for crimes. In the United States plea deals are accountable for 90% of criminal cases. A plea deal is an agreement between prosecutor and defendant in whom the defendant accepts a guilty plea to a charge and in return receives some type of concession from the prosecution. As we have moved forward in the judicial system and now have the ability to look back on previous cases, plea deals have become more controversial. The majority of awareness in this area has been used to look deeper into false confessions, grazing right over the fact that false confessions are a large part plea deals. A controversy arose when many refused to believe that situational factors during interrogations and dispositional factors inherent to the suspects could result in false confessions. (Redlich, 2010)

On 02 March 2017, 1258 Hrs, Michael Goodman DOB:03/02/1992, was arrested by Corporal Kyle Wilmont of the Missouri State Highway Patrol for possession of a controlled substance. He was transported to Dent County Jail and placed on a 24 hour pending issuance of warrants. See his report number 170128387, for further details involving that arrest.

The United States prides itself on having robust, deeply entrenched measures implemented across its core agencies, including the police and criminal justice system, to safeguard against wrongfully convicting people who, after further reflection, are factually found to be innocent. As citizens, we have been educated to trust, among other things, that our systems protect the notions that one is innocent until proven guilty and that prosecution must prove any charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet, wrongful convictions are more prevalent than we might think. In particular, the publicity of hundreds of cases over the last few decades has put a spotlight on this indisputable

I will also utilize Professor Natapoff who has served as a clerk for the Honorable David S. Tatel from the U.S. Court of Appeals and for Paul Friedman, U.S. District, Washington D.C. She is widely thought of as an expert on snitching in the criminal justice system. She recently served as an assistant public defender in Baltimore, Maryland. Professor Natapoff received an Open Society Institute Community Fellowship.

The prosecutors relied heavily on the two jailhouse informants; Mr. May and Mr. X. May had history of dishonesty with the authorities and a lengthy criminal record, May was desperate to get out of jail in 1985, which is why he decided to testify against Morin. May was also diagnosed with mental health experts at the second trial as a pathological liar. Mr. X had a criminal record of sexual offences; he was diagnosed with having a personality disorder and sociopathic tendencies. This clearly proves the testimonies given from Mr. May and Mr. X were

[I]n 2001, three young men robbed a McDonald’s restaurant in Milwaukee. 14-year-old Jerrell C.J. was arrested in connection with the offense, taken to the police station, booked, and placed in an interrogation room. In the room, Jerrell was handcuffed to a wall and left alone for approximately two hours. At 9 a.m., Police Detectives Ralph Spano and Kurt Sutter entered the interrogation room. The detectives introduced themselves, removed Jerrell’s handcuffs, and asked him some background questions. Jerrell stated that he was 14 years old and in the eighth grade. He also provided the names, addresses, and phone numbers of his parents and siblings. Jerrell was advised of his Miranda rights, and the detectives then began to question Jerrell about the armed robbery. Jerrell denied any involvement. The detectives challenged this denial and encouraged Jerrell to be "truthful and honest" and "start standing up for what he did." Jerrell again denied his involvement. The detectives again challenged his denial.

On December 11, 2016 at approximately 1330 hours, Detention Officer Harden reported duty and was assigned to work 1200 Baker Street Jail, 3rd Floor, A-Pod Control Center. At approximately 1420 hours, Detention Officer Harden advised she was not feeling well. At approximately 1430 Hours, Detention Officer Harden had her blood pressure checked in the 1200 Jail Clinic and was advised it was elevated. At approximately 1440 hours I called for Houston Fire Department. At approximately 1445 hours Houston Fire Department Medic 17 arrived at 1200 Baker Street Jail. Detention Officer Harden declined transport at approximately 1500 hours. At approximately 1505 hours, Sergeant Chad King took Detention Officer Harden to her husband’s work location Lieutenant

The officers that interrogated Cathy Woods used the Reid Model which is a nine step model of interrogation that is used to extract false confessions from suspects (Bennel,Forth,Pozzulo). The Reid model is the most used form of interrogation in the United States but has problems because the way it’s used puts a lot of stress on the suspects to confess to a crime they may not even have committed. For example, having interrogations that are hours even days long and denying suspects food, water and even being able to use the bathroom will make people confess just to end the interrogation, which is what happened to Cathy Woods. Cathy Woods’s false confession falls into the Coerced-compliant category because she confessed to a crime she knew she didn’t commit, but did it anyway to end the interrogation. Cathy Woods also vulnerable to false confessions because of her mental illness. To avoid false confessions such as Cathy Woods there must be safety nets in place that would be able to capture these inadequate interrogations. For instance, Saul Kassin a distinguished Professor of Psychology suggests we record all interrogations and have it reviewed by a judge before a trial starts. This way our chances of catching a false confession goes up and we can avoid people who are innocent from serving harsh

In Kansas City, Missouri, city officials are responsible for overseeing several aspects of the city’s administration. This includes collecting taxes, budgeting, infrastructure maintenance, jail supervision, among others. The Jackson County Jail is housed in Kansas City, and the Kansas City council is partially responsible for the funding and operation of the jail, as it houses city statute violators. The correctional staff is made up of members of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, so are outside the scope of the city’s supervision. Since the jail is housed in the city of Kansas City, the city legislature is responsible primarily for the operations of the jail.

In 1982, Alton Logan was charged and sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of a McDonald’s security guard in Illinois after three witnesses identified him despite the fact that several family members gave testimonies stating that Logan was home in the bed when the murder occurred (CBSNews, 2008). Around the same time attorneys Dale Coventry and Jamie Kunz were defending a man named Andrew Wilson was facing similar charges in the same jurisdiction who confessed to them that he killed the McDonalds security guard, and that Alton Logan was innocent (CBSNews, 2008). The two attorneys, being bound by the Attorney-Client Privilege and their duty of confidentiality to their client they did not come forward with the information that could have relieved Logan from the charges and his life sentence. Wilson gave the attorney’s permission to disclose the information upon his death and they took necessary measures to preserve the information until the time came when they would be able to share it (CBSNews, 2008).

What is most interesting about this story is that it exposes a flawed justice system. The police did a reasonably good job of investigating the murder scene, but right away they focused their attention on two men without solid evidence. The obvious suspect would have been the last person seen alive with the victim, someone who knew the victim and thus could gain access easily to her apartment, and definitely someone who had argued with the victim the night she was murdered (Thornburgh 28). There were many valid clues pointing to other suspects. Instead, the police convinced themselves early on that Ron Williamson was their killer. After five years when they were unable to solve the crime, and with pressure mounting, they pieced together a paper

Regardless of the way you look at it, your actions and behaviors are being called into question and it is through your honesty that we can move forward and create a better system in which innocent people aren’t being locked away. The relationship you build with informants shouldn’t be tarnished by the hammering of so called “justice” it is up to you to keep this relationship pure and just. The people around you know the amount of stress and pressure you as lawyers go through to try to search for the evidence to make a case. But let’s make it a change starting today to stop the tainting of individuals to serve as informants. Let’s stop allowing informants to testify, knowing that they have no true intentions to serve for the greater good. Don’t risk your career and your integrated being abolished. You can change the way our system is structured, but it all starts with what you do when you live this convention. Although your relationship with informants is a leading factor to wrongful conviction. It is not the only