Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

580 A Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions
admissibility. In other words, without an admissibility issue there was no right
to a voire dire and the jury would have to consider the weight of confession
evidence. Fortunately for the defence, Mr Donaldson was able to persuade the
judge to hold a voire dire concerning the admissibility of the videotaped confession.
The defence was going to argue that ruling the confession statements
admissible would have brought the administration of justice into disrepute. In
addition, this was a perfect case in which the residual discretion to exclude a
confession statement ought to be exercised. The defence said that the cases
constituted an abuse of the judicial process. Rose had been convicted twice before
for the same offence, he was on bail because fresh evidence had surfaced
to indicate that he was innocent and the undercover agents had falsely made
him believe that the police were interfering with the exculpatory witnesses who
were going to be testifying at his trial.
The defence sought to qualify me as an expert at a voire dire to give evidence
with regard to the ‘putative reliability’ of Rose’s confession statement,
pursuant to the decision on R. v. Hodgson [1998], 127 C.C.C. (3d) 449 (S.C.C.),
and R. v. Moham [1994], 114 D.L.R. (4th) 419 (S.C.C.). The main issues with
which I was going to be assisting the Court were the following.
� The scientific literature relating to false and coerced confessions.
� The nature of coercive police interrogation techniques.
� The similarities between the non-custodial interrogation conducted in
Rose’s case and techniques used by the police in custodial interrogations.
� The nature of the techniques used to break down Rose’s denials, and the
extent of coerciveness used by the undercover officers.
� Factors in the case that were consistent with those typically found in cases
of false confessions.
� The results of the psychological evaluation of Rose and his psychological
vulnerabilities at the time the statements were obtained by the undercover
officers.
� The ‘putative reliability’ of the confession statements.
The main overall purpose of my testifying was to assist the trier of fact (the
judge during the voire dire, and the jury during the trial proper, if the confession
statements were ruled admissible) with an understanding of why and how an
innocent man might confess falsely.
The first few days of the voire dire were spent on legal arguments, the undercover
officers testified, and the two Californian witnesses gave their testimony.
Mrs Hill, aged 72, seemed very clear in her testimony regarding her husband’s
confession. Her testimony was entirely credible. Her husband’s confession had
been detailed and was very convincing, which including a motive for the murders.
The only thing that did not go in Rose’s favour was that her husband did
not wear jeans, and wore trousers size 40–42, whereas Rose wore size 34.
Towards the end of the first week I testified regarding my qualifications.
I spent most of the day in the witness box. The Crown was going to challenge
the scientific foundation of my evidence. They requested two days to crossexamine
me on my qualifications. I returned to England and it was agreed that
the cross-examination could take place through a video link. In the meantime