Topic : 01/09 False Confessions

In 1999 my husband was arrested for armed robbery, which he did not do. He is a black man and it was in a predominantly white community where this robbery took place. He nor his family had the kind of money needed to post bail or obtain a good attorney, therefore he was left in jail for a year for something he did not do. His dad had to retire so that he can receive his retirement benefits in order to bail my husband out of jail before he went to prison. The two attorneys, that he was finally able to obtain due to his dad's retirement money, did not do anything for him. They told him that if he went to trial he would be hung and go to prison for at least 15 years. Although if he pleaded guilty then he would be able to receive only 11/2 years probation. Of course my husband was naive to the system and was scared at the possibility of going to prison for so long so he chose the probation. My husband is innocent. They had no evidence against him. No gun (he has never owned a gun), no fingerprints of his, and no cameras (although these would have came in handy to prove he did not do it). His probation officers even said they did not believe that he did this crime. He had witnesses that he was at his parents home, but of course the police brushed those off as 'his parents would lie about him anyway', or the 'neighbors are on too much medication or do not know what they are talking about'. But supposedly this kid that was the only person in the store at the time that supposedly was robbed is the innocent one and eventhough he is known drug user, he is a reliable witness. Whatever, I do not believe it or him (the so-called victim) for a second. I believe he was the one who stole the money in the first place and was just blaming someone else to cover his butt. I pray that one day he will have a conscience and realize that he did something wrong by lying, which got an innocent person convicted.

He finished his probation, but now he has a felony on his record for the rest of his life for something he did not do. I was not with him at the time this took place so it did not affect me at the time, but now we have a son together and it is affecting all of us. We have no money to obtain another attorney because he is not able to get a good paying job due to the felony on his record and I am currently a student. He has kind of settled with the fact that he is just going to have to live with the fact that this is going to be on his record and there is nothing we can do accept trust in God, who kinows he is innocent. But I on the other hand do not just let things go, especially if I believe in someone's innocence. I cannot stand when innocent people are thrown in jail, prison, or even put to death for something they did not do. I have written to so many people over this matter. I do not know where else to turn. I believe the Troy Police Department in Troy  to be racist and they will not admit that they screwed this one up. It angers me that we have to go through this for no reason. If there is anyone out there that may know how we can resolve this issue please contact me, I would love to hear your suggestions. Thank you so much. snmcneese@yahoo.com.

I believe the police in all police departments need to stop coercing people into confessing to something they never did. And if they do get a confession then find some other evidence to back that up so that innocent people will not be sent to prison anymore. I know a lot of departments are overloaded with cases, but that does not mean blame the first person you come across just to make your case and have it done faster. All that does is cause problems for the innocent person's life and those lives around them. It is not fair and us as the people of this country need to start standing up for what we  believe in and stop letting the so-called  justice system in this country bully us around like this.

My son went thur the same thing. He asked for an attorney and was told that if they got him an attorney, they would charge him. They did anyways. The police have lied and caused so much harm to this country. One detective told my sons attorney on another issue that since I hired an attorney that they would arrest him. They did the following day. Your Constitutional rights are denied all the time. I feel that from the minute that you enter into an interrogation room, that a video tape should be on immediately until the end of the interrogation. This would stop all of these false confessions. It would make police accountable for their actions.

I worked as a Probation Officer in Los Angeles. It is not unusal for gang members to confess to a crime they did not commit especially if the accused is underage. Many adult gang member convince younger gang members to take the 'rap' because they will get less time in a juvenile facility. Murder being one exception

Shannon M.

Nothing on the False Confessions show surprised me, because I have lived this same nightmare with the exception that I did NOT confess to the crime.  The police detective that interrogated me used editorial license when he filled out his police report to reflect statements I never made.  This same Detective is now serving his own parole for repeatedly sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl.

Over 10 years ago I was accused of molesting children in a church setting where I was a caretaker. Following pastoral advice I went to the police without an attorney because of the ingrained trust I had for law enforcement.  The end result was finally getting an attorney fresh out of the county District Attorney's Office whereas I was his first defense case.  My church leadership enocuraged me to "plead the mercy of the court" because I must have done something wrong to deserve this.  My naivety and blind trust of the legal system had me believe a plea would have the situation go away.

Now over ten years later after serving 5 years of prison for my plea I continue to serve a sentence under the newly passed Megan's Law provisions. More egregious is the fact that I am now remarried and can not live with my family due to not being being  permitted by county probation to be "unsupervised" around my 12 year old step son.   This is inspite of the fact that I have passed several probation mandate polygraphs, Abel Assessment Tests, and Plythysmograpic Tests confirming that I am telling the truth, and that I am NOT a danger to any child.

The legal system is only as strong as the people that implement it. There ought to be a show on Dr. Phil that brings such cases to light.

Mr. Tice  We have something in common, we both have a son  that made a false confession in Virginia.  My son is Michael Ledford.  I know exactly what you and your family are going through.  Your son  has dna on his side and other evidence of innocence. My son  was convicted of arson and murder and found not guilty of attempted murder. He has  strong evidence that the instrument of crime that the police told him he used to start a fire, while they were interrogating him, did not exist.  No evidence of arson was found. He told the police during the interrogation where he was that night and that he did not start a fire. They  would not accept it. His placement was confirmed by witness to the police after his arrest. The police did not do there homework and took the lazy way out   Through science he was not there when the fire started. Do not give up the fight for justice. I sure will not.  Hopfully some day and I hope soon we will  have our sons free. 

Patricia Ledford

My family has had to endure the lies of a Law Enforcement Officer.  My brother with the help of his attorney made a plea to take the charges to save his son from jail under false statements of a Detective of the County Sheriff Office.

My brother was involved with a abusive woman and on several occasions tried to break it off.  The last time he tried to break it off she ran to the Sheriff's Office and made false claims that my brother held her against her will with a gun. 

When the Sheriff Department came to the home to arrest my brother, a friend of my nephew had brought drugs into the home and they were found in the couch where the friend was sitting.  We were told by the Detective all that lived in the home had to be arrested.  March of 2006 the friend of my nephew plea to possession of the drugs and was sentenced.  We waited for the law enforcement to drop the charges but this never happened.  Two days after the arrest the Detective showed up at the home my brother and nephew were living in (which is owned by my father) He was startled when I opened the door and ask him what was his business looking around the house and did he have a warrant.  He made a excuse he was looking for vehicle in which he knew there was none since they all had left the night this incident happened.  We ask the detective what kind of drugs were found.  He told my father, mother and I that the drugs found were a powder mix but he did not think they were much drugs in them when the test came back it was a crystal and not a powder that was tested.  He told us that he didn't think my brother and nephew really were involved but he was following procedure in arresting the people who live in the home.  I thought this was very odd. 

This cat and mouse with the County Sheirff Office continued until the day before they were suppose to go to trial.  My brother was afraid for his son so with careful thinking he decided to stop the bleeding of the whole thing.  This is the day we finally got the report from the County District Attorney's Office of the statement that the Detective  has written.  It was already too late the plea had been made.  I have written to the Sheriff and to the Judge of the Court District about the errors that were made.  We have on tape the conversations with Chief Deputy about the error but he said that he had talked to and it was just a mistake. 

Mistakes happen everyday with law enforcement officers like confessions, lies and sworn statement anything to get a conviction.  As we are still currently trying to correct this wrong it is very trying on my parents as they have seen their son go to prison for false statements.  The law enforcement don't want to hear the truth  they are only after convictions.  I have audio tapes of the conversations of them tell us the lines in the statement were just mistakes.  How many other people have been convicted from just mistakes the law enforcement have made on statements they have given to the District Attorney.

Reading these stories make me feel like I've been kicked in the stomach,again. I feel for all of you who have been hurt by these egotistical investigators! When I get out of prison (I am going as an innocent woman next summer!), I plan on spending all of my energy working on getting a federal law passed that ALL invetigative interview MUST be videotaped. If the interviews in my case were taped I would NOT be going to prison!

In my case, the FBI agent is truly a criminal. No one will ever take action against him because he is just TOO powerful. They have the power to destroy a life on a whim and that  is what they will do, especailly with the Patriot Act and all it's POWER. On a previous case, I was told, the Judge told this agent that she found his testimony disingenuous. He is a CRIMINAL with a badge!

My public defenders are no better. my experience is that they represent the government. My life is not my own and I am going to prison as an innocent person. Forced to leave my children without a parent to support and take care of them.

I wish Dr. Phil was powerful enough to help facilitate change!