The story of Ryan Ferguson is a bizarre case that many find difficult to comprehend. In 2001, a murder was committed and although DNA evidence was left behind, no suspects were found. The case became cold, until two years later when an anonymous call came saying that the murderer was Charles Erickson. Apparently, Chuck Erickson blacked out the night of Halloween and thought that he may have committed the crime because he was in the vicinity of the scene. When interrogated his story was loose and full of doubts. The police tell him about the murder weapon and various details of the crime, including motive.
Ryan and Chuck were 17 years old at the time and underaged drinking at a local college bar, a few blocks from the Tribune newspaper. They left the bar at closing,1:30 am, later new testimony verified this. Chuck says that the reason they robbed newspaper editor, Kent Heitholt, was because they needed money to buy more drinks but the bar was closed and the wallet was in the car.
During the trial Charles Erickson tells the vivid tale of what happened that night. He explained how Ryan Ferguson brutally murdered Kent Heitholt and even demonstrates for the court. All the while, Ryan Ferguson claims this is a fabricated tale and that it never happened. Jerry Trump, one of the two eyewitnesses, points to Ryan and says he is the man I saw that night. Charles Erickson took a plea bargain of 25 years. Ryan Ferguson was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years.
Ryan maintained his story that this never happened and filed habeas corpus, petitioning this court to vacate his convictions and to grant him a new trial. After serving 8 years, Chuck came forward and said that Ryan was never there that night. Jerry Trump came f...
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Newring, K. B., & O'Donohue, W. (2008). False confessions and influenced witnesses. Applied Psychology In Criminal Justice, 4(1), 81-107.
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Guyll, M., Madon, S., Yang, Y., Lannin, D. G., Scherr, K., & Greathouse, S. (2013). Innocence and resisting confession during interrogation: Effects on physiologic activity. Law And Human Behavior, 37(5), 366-375. doi:10.1037/lhb0000044
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``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.
This paper will consider eye witness testimony and its place in convicting accused criminals. Psychology online (2013) defines “eye witness testimony” as a statement from a person who has witnessed a crime, and is capable of communicating what they have seen, to a court of law under oath. Eye witness testimonies are used to convict accused criminals due to the first hand nature of the eye witnesses’ observations. There are however many faults within this system of identification. Characteristics of the crime is the first issue that will be discussed in this paper, and the flaws that have been identified. The second issue to be discussed will be the stress impact and the inability to correctly identify the accused in a violent or weapon focused crime. The third issue to be discussed is inter racial identification and the problems faced when this becomes a prominent issue. The fourth issue will be time lapse, meaning, the time between the crime and the eye witness making a statement and how the memory can be misconstrued in this time frame. To follow this will be the issue of how much trust jurors-who have no legal training-put on to the eye witness testimony, which may be faltered. This paper references the works of primarily Wells and Olsen (2003) and Rodin (1987) and Schmechel et al. (2006) it will be argued that eye witness testimony is not always accurate, due to many features; inter racial identification, characteristics of the crime, response latency, and line up procedures therefore this paper will confirm that eyewitness testimonies should not be utilised in the criminal ju...
Michael Kirk and Peter J. Boyer. (2000, January 18). The killer at Thurston High. May 5, 2010, by FrontLine: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/etc/script.html
The story of the Black Dahlia had people trying to find answers for years, with so many suspects and not many answers it only led to more mystery. Not much is known about the murder that happened and there are many possibilities, but among all the suspects, one thing is clear and that is Ed burns didn't commit the crime. George Hodel committed the murder and there is a lot of evidence against him to prove this statement. In the murder of the Black Dahlia, Ed Burns didn't commit the crime, but George Hodel was the one who is responsible for the murder.
Hanson (2013) narrates that on Sept. 23, 2006, Travion Blount, Morris Downing and David Nichols, members of the Crips gang, drove to a house near a Norfolk Navy base neighborhood in Virginia, where they believed a dealer lived with a few roommates. They pulled guns, stole money and some pot. Police caught all three within a week. Nichols and Downing, both 18 and legally adults, pleaded guilty and received 10 and 13 years. They were required to testify against Blount to receive fewer years in prison. Blount, who pleaded not guilty was convicted and punished with six life terms.
Another interesting fact came out in this case regarding Johnson. During the investigation it was found out that Johnson had nickname called murder man. He did not deny these allegations that was his name on the street. Officers ask Johnson if he ever enter the premises of where the murder occur. Johnson confirm that he had enter the location of where the murder occurred. There was also men clothing located at the property implying further that Johnson may have murder the victims Heather Camp and Nicole Sartell. Ardentric Johnson did admit as well during the integration with officers that he had seen the victim Heather Camp previously before she was murder. Evidence also points out that Johnson may have locked up the second victim Nicole Sartell for 46 hours and force her to smoke crack cocaine. Sartell body was found in the closet few days after the first victim, Heather Camp body had appeared. With this accumulating evidence against the accuser Ardentric Johnson, he has been charged with the two murders of Heather Camp and Nicole Sarell. END OF
Many of today’s interrogation models being utilized in police investigations have an impact on false confessions. The model that has been in the public eye recently is the social psychological process model of interrogation known as the “The Reid Technique.” There are two alternatives used by the police today to replace the Reid Technique, one is the PEACE Model and the other is Cognitive Interviewing. These methods are not interrogation techniques like Reid but interview processes.
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.
Garrett, B. L. (n.d.). The Substance of False Confessions. Criminal Justice Collection. Retrieved November 23, 2010, from find.galegroup.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/gtx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28su%2CNone%2C28%29%22Wrongful+Convictions+%28Law%29%22%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28RE%2CNone%2C3%29ref%24&sgHitCo
Wells, G. L., & Olson, E. A. (2003). Eyewitness testimony. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 277-295.
Roesch, R., & Rogers, B. (2011). The cambridge handbook of forensic psychology. Canadian Psychology, 52(3), 242-242-243.
Seventeen years ago on April 20th, Dylan Klebold said a hasty goodbye to his mother and left for school earlier than normal. His mother, Sue Klebold, who believed that he had rushed out the door because he was in a hurry to pick up a classmate, was unaware that would be the last time she ever spoke to him. Eventually, at 11:19 am, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire, murdering thirteen people at Columbine High School in suburban Denver. In a CBS News article, Sue Klebold later revealed that: “[F]rom the writings Dylan left behind, criminal psychologists have concluded that he was depressed and suicidal. When I first saw copied pages of these writings, they broke my heart. I'd had no inkling of the battle Dylan was waging in his mind.”
Eyewitness accuracy can be described as the evidence given by witness to a event such as accident or a crime by relying on their memory. It is an important topic to study because it is crucial in criminal investigations, prosecutions and to describe criminal scenes. This is a crucial area to investigate in Psychology because eyewitness errors are the most common reason why innocent people are falsely convicted and the consequences of the latter can be lethal. Mindfulness, Trait Anxiety and Memory Conformity can be three predictable variables of eyewitness accuracy.
Leo, R and Ofshe R. The Social Psychology of Police Interrogation: The Theory and Classification of True and False Confessions. 16 Studies in Law, Politics and Society 189,
Confessing to a crime one did not commit can have extreme repercussions and yet so many people give false confessions. There are many situational factors that can prompt a person who is under interrogation to confess falsely. Often the individual might be under duress or coercion. The threat of a harsh sentence and intoxication might be another factor. There are some individuals who are more vulnerable to false confessions. Among them are juveniles and individuals with mental or intellectual disabilities. Minors are susceptible to making false confessions for two reasons; lack of psychological and brain immaturity and their compliance with authority (Schwartz, 2016). They may not comprehend the magnitude and consequences of their situation