Time after time, we see false confessions in SBS cases. We know that they are false because they are contradicted by the autopsy findings.
Even if the police don’t get a confession, they win if they can get the suspect to change their story. Now the suspect is a liar.
Don’t be fooled, the interrogation starts with the child abuse pediatrician at the hospital.
They introduce themselves as a doctor who has been asked to consult on the case by the doctors taking care of your child. What they don’t tell you is that they are paid by the state to investigate child abuse and if your case goes to trial, they will be the primary witness against you. They are not only looking for answers to questions but they are watching you demeanor and will be quick to tell the jury that you showed no emotion or that you were evasive. They may ask you to reenact the scene. They may separate the parents to look for inconsistencies between the parents stories. They may try to turn one parent against the other (Child Protective Services may threaten to take away the mother’s other children unless she agrees to testify against the father). They are certainly not your family’s doctor.
The police interrogation will follow a pattern;
1. They will tell you that the door isn’t locked and you can leave anytime you want to (they are telling you this because it means that they can interrogate you without reading you your Miranda rights
2. They will let you tell your story and get it on video
3. They often will tell you that the doctors need you to tell the “truth” or your child may be harmed (this isn’t true because the doctors are treating the injuries and the treatment will not change depending on whether the injuries are accidental or inflicted).
4. Then they will start giving you medical finding, often one at a time, and ask you how you can explain each finding (they want you to change your story in an attempt to explain each finding)
a. Often they have been given the wrong information by the doctors, such as fractures that eventually are proven false.
5. They will offer you an accidental explanation and try to get you to agree
6. Then they start calling you a liar
a. They will tell you that the doctors are 100% certain that the injuries could not have happened the way you say
b. They will tell you that the baby was completely healthy until you were alone with the baby
c. They won’t accept any story that does not include violent shaking or slamming the baby
7. In fatal cases, they will then torture the parent by forcing them to look at bloody autopsy pictures of the recently deceased child.
a. Parents have no way of looking at a bloody picture of the brain, with the skull removed, and knowing what kind of injury or medical condition could have caused the finding. The pictures serve no purpose other than to cause emotional pain. Some parents have reported that they became suicidal at this point.
8. The interrogation will go on for hours, sometimes asking you to take a lie detector test, but they will not accept any story as being true unless it involves violent shaking or slamming.
a. Accusations will become louder and more aggressive as time goes on.
9. Then, they will tell you that if you just tell the “truth” you can go home
10. If you tell them what they want to hear, you will be arrested as soon as you try to leave
One of the most despicable tactics is to force the parent of a recently deceased child to look at autopsy photographs. We apologize to the jurors when we have to show these pictures to them. Sometimes the judge rules that some pictures are too graphic to show to the jurors. However, police detectives think it is perfectly alright to force a parent to look at these pictures just hours or days the death of their child, while they are deep in grief.
Even if the police don’t get a confession, they win if they can get the suspect to change their story. Now the suspect is a liar.
Don’t be fooled, the interrogation starts with the child abuse pediatrician at the hospital.
They introduce themselves as a doctor who has been asked to consult on the case by the doctors taking care of your child. What they don’t tell you is that they are paid by the state to investigate child abuse and if your case goes to trial, they will be the primary witness against you. They are not only looking for answers to questions but they are watching you demeanor and will be quick to tell the jury that you showed no emotion or that you were evasive. They may ask you to reenact the scene. They may separate the parents to look for inconsistencies between the parents stories. They may try to turn one parent against the other (Child Protective Services may threaten to take away the mother’s other children unless she agrees to testify against the father). They are certainly not your family’s doctor.
The police interrogation will follow a pattern;
1. They will tell you that the door isn’t locked and you can leave anytime you want to (they are telling you this because it means that they can interrogate you without reading you your Miranda rights
2. They will let you tell your story and get it on video
3. They often will tell you that the doctors need you to tell the “truth” or your child may be harmed (this isn’t true because the doctors are treating the injuries and the treatment will not change depending on whether the injuries are accidental or inflicted).
4. Then they will start giving you medical finding, often one at a time, and ask you how you can explain each finding (they want you to change your story in an attempt to explain each finding)
a. Often they have been given the wrong information by the doctors, such as fractures that eventually are proven false.
5. They will offer you an accidental explanation and try to get you to agree
6. Then they start calling you a liar
a. They will tell you that the doctors are 100% certain that the injuries could not have happened the way you say
b. They will tell you that the baby was completely healthy until you were alone with the baby
c. They won’t accept any story that does not include violent shaking or slamming the baby
7. In fatal cases, they will then torture the parent by forcing them to look at bloody autopsy pictures of the recently deceased child.
a. Parents have no way of looking at a bloody picture of the brain, with the skull removed, and knowing what kind of injury or medical condition could have caused the finding. The pictures serve no purpose other than to cause emotional pain. Some parents have reported that they became suicidal at this point.
8. The interrogation will go on for hours, sometimes asking you to take a lie detector test, but they will not accept any story as being true unless it involves violent shaking or slamming.
a. Accusations will become louder and more aggressive as time goes on.
9. Then, they will tell you that if you just tell the “truth” you can go home
10. If you tell them what they want to hear, you will be arrested as soon as you try to leave
One of the most despicable tactics is to force the parent of a recently deceased child to look at autopsy photographs. We apologize to the jurors when we have to show these pictures to them. Sometimes the judge rules that some pictures are too graphic to show to the jurors. However, police detectives think it is perfectly alright to force a parent to look at these pictures just hours or days the death of their child, while they are deep in grief.
(Start at 22:30 to see the detective torturing the mother with the autopsy photographs)
A parent is not a doctor and cannot be expected to recognize the significance of what is in the picture. It does no more good to show them the picture of their child with their face peeled down, skull removed and brain exposed, than it does to tell them there was bleeding on the surface of the brain. The only purpose of showing them such pictures is to inflict emotional pain. It is no less torture than beating a confession out of them.
Under this kind of pressure, most of us will still not confess to something we didn’t do but is it surprising that some people do?
A parent is not a doctor and cannot be expected to recognize the significance of what is in the picture. It does no more good to show them the picture of their child with their face peeled down, skull removed and brain exposed, than it does to tell them there was bleeding on the surface of the brain. The only purpose of showing them such pictures is to inflict emotional pain. It is no less torture than beating a confession out of them.
Under this kind of pressure, most of us will still not confess to something we didn’t do but is it surprising that some people do?
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