tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5176006268302183776.post2239901012311924794..comments2024-03-20T10:14:19.071-04:00Comments on The Shipler Report: ‘I Confess!’ Why Do People Admit to Things They Haven’t Done?Davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00305265860388931637noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5176006268302183776.post-49974324026055791312012-03-04T16:35:31.173-05:002012-03-04T16:35:31.173-05:00Several years ago before I was diagnosed with a se...Several years ago before I was diagnosed with a serious illness, I was called by my then wife who had worked her 4 hour shift at a local office. She was "exhausted" from the "grueling afternoon". Being in extreme pain I had had 2 drinks with my pain medication, weighing only about 140 lbs at the time. When I got lost the police approached my legally parked car in a rest area and asked if I had a problem. Responding "No, thank you, I am looking for a restaurant to meet my wife. One of the young officers said he smelled alcohol--I had drunk about 3oz of rum with 2 cokes 2 hours earlier. My breathalyzer read 0.09, which I thought was OK only to be informed that 0.08 was the legal limit. I was thrown to the ground, roughly put into the back seat and driven to the jail and put in a cell after blood was drawn (subsequently coming back at 0.07, under the legal limit). I was taken into a small, dank, smelly room and browbeat into confessing my "heavy drinking" and "probably drug dealing". Being a physician and still dress in an appropriate suit and tie, I asked for my attorney or to call my wife, which was denied. Six hours rapidly passed with me refusing to talk, incurring the wrath of each succeeding officer. Although not physically assaulted again, I was threatened (the tape recorder each time carefully turned off). When I was released the next morning with no explanation, apology or anything I subsequently found out that I was officially not "drunk" by the more reliable blood test. Although I in no way justify my drinking with my pain meds and driving, I remembered how many times I had written off my professional fee for law enforcement officers over the course of my career out of respect for their "service".<br /> About a week later I received a phone call from the county DA asking me not to sue the county, the jail, or the officer who had assaulted me. I did not against my attorney's strong disapproval. I no longer discount or waive my fee for law enforcement personnel or lawyers. Having never had so much as a speeding ticket for over a decade I could not believe the treatment that I had received. The physical assault was caught on the police cruiser camera, prompting the DA's call to me.<br /> I could have gone home that night by taxi, had I agreed to sign a form indicating my guilt, incredibly including drug dealing (although I had never done drugs, nor were any drugs found in my car). They assumed I was a dealer because of the toxicoloy that revealed my prescription pain medicaion. I can only too well imagine what you write about the innocent confessing to make their immediate 'Hell' go away and think about the rest later.<br /> Incidentally the jailer was arrested about 21/2 years later for soliciting sexual favors in exchange for better treatment for the female inmates. He had to be put in segregated cell for his own protection when he finally reported to jail.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5176006268302183776.post-87298338593943838602012-02-26T14:46:18.802-05:002012-02-26T14:46:18.802-05:00Dear David:
I read with interest your article in ...Dear David:<br /><br />I read with interest your article in today's "New York Times" called "Why Do Innocent People Confess?" Decades ago,you and I were on a New Israel Fund tour of Israel.<br /><br />I have sent your article to various friends I thought would find it of interest: a Sarasota lawyer who teaches and practices criminal law and was formerly in the Public Defender's Office, people at the Cornell and Yale Law Schools, the staff of the Innocence Project of Florida, and the dean of the School of Human Ecology at my alma mater, Cornell University. They have recently started a new program there, resulting in combined JD/Ph.D. degrees that will include a course on the reliability of witness testimony.<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />Sonia<br /><br />Sonia Pressman Fuentes<br />spfuentes@comcast.net<br />www.erraticimpact.com/fuentesSonia Pressman Fuenteshttp://www.erraticimpact.com/fuentesnoreply@blogger.com