Posted on 01/18/2022 6:56:54 PM PST by nickcarraway
Virginia Beach police used forged documents that linked people's DNA to a crime to get them to confess or cooperate with investigators, Virginia's outgoing attorney general announced Wednesday.
The city's police department has changed its policy in the wake of the state's probe, Attorney General Mark Herring said in a statement. In a separate statement, the city said it had ended the practice in May after conducting its own investigation, but called the tactic legal.
Virginia Beach police serve a city of about 450,000 people along the state's coast. Officers used fake reports purporting to be from the Virginia Department of Forensic Science at least five times during interrogations between 2016 and 2020, Herring's office said. The bogus pieces of paper included a seal and letterhead from the state agency, the AG's office said. In two instances, the documents included the signature of a fictitious employee from the department, and in at least one instance, a forged report was presented to a court as evidence, the AG's office said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
If you lie to the cops or the FBI, you will be in trouble.
If the cops or the FBI lie to you, they ought to be in twice as much trouble.
But it just doesn’t work that way. Sigh.
Pretending to be FBI?
Think about it: you’re a teenage kid. The cops pick you up. Tell you that you don’t need a lawyer, just answer their questions and they’ll get you home quickly.
Bam! They lay a murder accusation on you. They tell you if you’re honest with them, you’ll get to go home faster and they can “help” you. They then lay out a DNA report that’s falsified to show that your DNA is on the victims body and at the scene.
You’re flabbergasted, but also a teenager and not wise in the ways of the world. You are being pressed by two large, dominating men to just confess and this can all be over with.
So, you confess to something you didn’t do just to make the immediate threat of the situation stop.
Boom. They got you confessing to a crime they don’t care you didn’t commit. They’re going to get their conviction stat. Case closed.
If anyone was convicted using this tactic, their case should be reopened and looked at to ensure that innocence wasn’t stolen by virtue of lie.
There are several documented cases of people confessing to crimes they didn’t commit after hours of interrogation and falsified evidence like this.
This tactic should be illegal and those that use it should be prosecuted.
Also, if you have children, teach them to only say two things if they are ever questioned in relation to a crime:
1. I want a lawyer.
2. I want my parents.
And coach them to stay silent after that no matter what the big, mean people say to them.
It’s sad you have to teach your kids that these days. Gone are the days of “the police are our friends.”
If you are under 18 then they can’t question you without your parent or guardian.
Might want to research your claim.
That may be the case in Virginia, but that isn’t the case everywhere.
Why would the cops be in trouble? The Supreme Court has several times upheld the use of deception and lying by cops to obtain confessions. But the court will consider whether or not the deception coerced an admission.
Okay, I didn’t realize there were states you could question a minor without parental consent. Even if it is allowed, police are risking a judge throwing it out.
“the city said it had ended the practice in May after conducting its own investigation, but called the tactic legal.”
Note to self: Remember this the next time I’m called for jury duty.
L
I remember a case that was similar to your example, except the person wasn’t a teenager, he was what one might call simple. I think it was in Louisiana. He confessed, but later it turned out he was not guilty.
To further qualify my statement, I’ll point to the difference between “voluntary interview during investigation” vs. “arrested and interrogated.”
But, I’m not a lawyer so I might be wrong.
I believe in that case, when asked why he confessed, he said something to the effect of “they said if I confessed, I could go home and this would be over.”
That was a sad case and never should have happened.
That is SOP for any law enforcement agency. That’s why you keep your mouth shut and NEVER talk to the cops.
Providing fake documentation? Courts may not go along with that.
“Providing fake documentation? Courts may not go along with that.”
Why wouldn’t they? Those same Courts have already said it’s okay to lie. What difference does it make how the State does it?
L
A Justice Diode...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE
Mandatory viewing every 6 months. For everyone in the family.
skip the prosecution of them.
there is a lot of shit pulled by those in power that should result in execution.
making fake cases against people should be one of them
I think it’s OK for police to lie during interrogations. Just something I picked up watching and reading true crime.
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