In 1992 nineteen year old Juan Rivera confessed to raping and murdering an eleven year old girl named Holly Staker, while she was babysitting. Rivera was sentenced to life in prison for this confession, but other evidence indicates that he may have given a false confession. After “24 hours of near constant interrogation, and around 11:30 on the morning of Oct. 30, after banging his head on a cell wall, pulling out a clump of his hair and being handcuffed behind his back and placed in leg shackles, Rivera finally provided investigators with a detailed confession.” In that quote it is apparent that Rivera had a psychotic breakdown and confessed. I believe he confessed because the police coerced him by interrogating him for twenty-four hours straight. …show more content…
Rivera’s confession was three pages long and in very well written detail. This evidence would be used to sentence him to life in prison. Rivera had an outstanding lawyer to defend him. His lawyer quoted “This is a rape and murder of an 11-year-old child, and the semen found inside the girl excludes Juan Rivera…” Even though Rivera had this amazing lawyer, he was still sentenced to life in prison because a jury would not let a man who could have possibly raped a girl go free. The author of the article interviewed Rivera and talked about Rivera’s confession.
The author asked Rivera why he confessed and Rivera said that he had blacked out and doesn’t remember much. Rivera said “Coercion is not just physical, it’s also mental.” In this statement Rivera is saying that the police coerced him into confessing. The police coerced him not by physically hurting him, or by threatening him, but by constantly interrogating him for such a long period of time. I had noticed throughout the article there are multiple times when Rivera is questioned by the police and then questioned by the media. When Rivera is questioned by the police it’s almost like he tells the police what they want to hear. When Rivera is questioned by the media he seems like he is laid back and telling the truth. It almost seems like Rivera is threatened or maybe even scared of the police due to their coercion tactic they had used on Rivera to make him confess to the rape and murder of Holly Staker. In the past Rivera had three separate trials, all on this same case. Every one of them he had lost and been proven guilty. The author states “Even if Rivera’s defenders don’t find the killer, Rivera told me he remains optimistic that he will ultimately be freed.” Then Rivera said ‘“I believe in God…I believe things should come correct…Things should come around. I don’t know when it will happen, but I do have faith that one day I’ll go
home.’”
In 1980, Julio Gonzalez immigrated to New York and met Lydia Feliciano, who would become his girlfriend. 10 years later, Gonzalez lost his job, was dumped by Feliciano, and got drunk. He visited his ex-girlfriend when she was working as a coat-check at an illegal bar in the Bronx called Happy Land Social Club. After Gonzalez was thrown out by the bouncer, he bought gasoline at a nearby gas station and set fire to the stairs, which was the only exit. 87 people were killed. Gonzalez was visited in his apartment by police officers, he confessed to his crimes, and was taken to the police station where he was promptly arrested. The defense attorney claimed that the defendant was unlawfully arrested so his statements were invalid and that even if
The prosecutors explained in their opening statement that Booth sold drugs to Gibson in December 2010, and was subsequently arrested for the transaction shortly after. After Booth was arrested for drug trafficking, he suspected Gibson was the confidential informant in the case against him. Booth planned to murder Gibson to prevent her...
Geraldo Rivera and Bill O’Reilly have a heated argument over immigration in this video clip when Bill O’Reilly brings up an incident when an illegal immigrant was involved in a drunk driving crash that killed another motorist in Virginia Beach. Geraldo Rivera asserts the only reason the incident is being so closely in the media is because the driver was an illegal alien and if it was a “Bubba” or “Bob” Americans would not have heard about the incident. O’Reilly then cites the illegal alien driver had been arrested two previous times and should have been deported the first time he had contact with the police and this drunk driving fatality would never have occurred. Rivera argues that this incident has nothing to do with illegal immigration and what nationality you are has nothing to do with the fact you are driving while intoxicated. Both Rivera and O’Reilly begin getting angrier and talking over one another not allowing the other to respond to one another’s accusations.
``In criminal law, confession evidence is a prosecutor’s most potent weapon’’ (Kassin, 1997)—“the ‘queen of proofs’ in the law” (Brooks, 2000). Regardless of when in the legal process they occur, statements of confession often provide the most incriminating form of evidence and have been shown to significantly increase the rate of conviction. Legal scholars even argue that a defendant’s confession may be the sole piece of evidence considered during a trial and often guides jurors’ perception of the case (McCormick, 1972). The admission of a false confession can be the deciding point between a suspect’s freedom and their death sentence. To this end, research and analysis of the false confessions-filled Norfolk Four case reveals the drastic and controversial measures that the prosecuting team will take to provoke a confession, be it true or false.
...ays of getting out of his punishment including insanity, which was professionally proven not the case, and that someone with black gloves signed for him to do what he did. Which was also proven wrong. Mesa was charged with charged with two counts of felony murder, one while armed, along with some robbery and burglary charges. He went to jail for the rest of his life without parole.
On 12-22-15 at approximately 0859 hours, Officer Banuelos #0789 was contacted by a witness in regards to a PC 211-Robbery Strong Arm investigation. The victim was waiting at the “Rose City Lavanderia” located at 730 N. Los Robles Avenue. The victim was standing inside of the location as the unknown suspect approached and grabbed her cellular telephone from her left hand. The unknown male Hispanic fled the location on foot and headed southbound on the east sidewalk of Los Robles Avenue and out of sight.
I support this idea because the police officers were right near a hospital after they knew he was on cocaine, he was tased multiple times and he was bleeding yet they chose to risk all these injuries and take him to the police station. As police officers I believe they should have put the man’s health before his actions, and should have taken him into the hospital to get the medical care before being taken to the police station. However, there is another side to this report. This side is that it was the man’s fault for this event. In some ways this may true, for instance he chose to commit an illegal act and do cocaine, he also chose to break open a car door and run towards the hospital door. These following actions in some ways support how the officers handled the situation. The man, Linwood Lambert, would not cooperate therefore they believed that the only option they had was to use force. Now although this may not support why they chose to take him to the police station and not the hospital, it does support why the officers took such violent action. Overall, I believe that the man was not in the right frame of mind, due to the cocaine, and therefore could not control his actions which eventually got him killed. However, I continue to believe that the violence imposed on the man was
Salinas was eventually convicted of murder and both the Texas State Court of Appeals and Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with the verdict. They did however ignore his claim ...
...began to chase him. While trying to escape, Ramirez attempted to steal a car but was unaware that the owner was under the car trying to fix it. When Ramirez started the car the owner came out from underneath it and began to chase him. The mob was still in pursuit now armed with steal rods. They eventually caught up to him and several people beat him until the police got there. He was arrested and taken into custody. It was because of endless appeals that his trial lasted for 4 years. At the end of everything he was found guilty on 43 counts in the Los Angeles county that included 13 murders, burglary, sodomy, and, rape. He was sentenced to the death penalty in the gas chamber. He is still on death row and will continue to be until he is out of appeals. He is quoted as saying "You maggots make me sick. I will be avenged Lucifer dwells within all of us!".
Depending on what study is read, the incidence of false confession is less than 35 per year, up to 600 per year. That is a significant variance in range, but no matter how it is evaluated or what numbers are calculated, the fact remains that false confessions are a reality. Why would an innocent person confess to a crime that she did not commit? Are personal factors, such as age, education, and mental state, the primary reason for a suspect to confess? Are law enforcement officers and their interrogation techniques to blame for eliciting false confessions? Regardless of the stimuli that lead to false confessions, society and the justice system need to find a solution to prevent the subsequent aftermath.
According to “Sleep Deprivation and False Confessions” and “False Confessions to Police and their Relationship with Conduct Disorder, ADHD, and life adversity,” it tackles on the causes of false confessions and who is more prone to such factors. Based on “The Role of Deception” and “How the Police Generate False Confessions: An Inside Look at the Interrogation Room” by Trainum, James L, it focuses on the methods police interrogators use to coerce a false confession. Lastly, ways to prevent false confessions from recurring will be recommended through “Miranda Rights Comprehension in Young Adults with Specific Language Impairment,” “Miranda Rights and Wrongs: Matter of Justice,” and “Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors and Recommendations.” Due to these reasons, the modern justice system needs to be updated and enforced to avoid similar cases of coerced false
“Texas is though”, as stated by an investigator, but the punishment should be granted with uncertainty, but as we look into the individual that is Tony Ford we can take a look at who he is from circumstances, and trial findings to determine some of the sociological causes. The basis for the entire documentation of this trial is drastic change from the way the media has portrayed the criminal justice system, we are more likely to have the police and the prosecution of a criminal glamorized and seen as a victory rather than view it as a misguided system. The episode even goes as far as introducing the viewer to an anchor who is convinced the trial was unfairly represented both in context and in the media. Furthering the public’s view Ford, we know that the media has a grand level of influence on the public’s perception, and this case demonstrates that the “selection of individuals who are interviewed to support a reporter’s view” (Barkan, 2015, p.24) can be a grand influence. So for a media correspondent to step out in disbelief, even after years, holds great power for the investigators to go on since they do have someone who may know things
"To hear the judge who put procedure over innocence could be moving to a higher court is very upsetting to me" (Jeffrey Deskovic). This means when the court judge that has guilty, but didn't listen to him and the truth that he says make him more angry and feel upset about this. While Deskovic and the court fight and got him in jail, Deskovic still find the research for his justice and the court finding the truth of which side are lying or something not really find out.
There are two types of false confessions, voluntary false confessions and involuntary false confessions. In a voluntary false confession, a person claims to be responsible for a crime they know they did not commit without any coercion or interference. With this type of false confession, mental health comes into play. These people feel a need for attention or punishment that can only be explained psychologically. In some cases of voluntary false confessions, those who wish to protect the true guilty party confess in the hopes of saving that person at the risk of themselves. Voluntary false confessions are arguably not as prominent as coerced false confessions, but both need to be minimized in order to better our justice system.
The mystery of whoever killed the martyr has remained unsolved for almost three decades. This scenario has proven that the justice system here in the Philippines has not improved ever since. One can see in newspapers, tabloids, and even in social media countless cases of unsolved