False confessions: Why a conservative DA is urging law enforcement to stop lying to suspects
A new California law prohibits law enforcement from using threats or lies to get a minor to confess to a crime.
The law faced opposition, but now a conservative district attorney is urging law enforcement to voluntarily stop lying to all suspects due to an increased risk of false confessions.
With advances in genetic genealogy and DNA crime-fighting techniques, hundreds of wrongful convictions have been overturned. Data indicates nearly a third of those who were exonerated, had confessed to a crime they didn't commit.
Many, including El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, blame deceptive interrogation techniques. Pierson says he learned that lesson the hard way.
"This is a golden opportunity that we're giving you right here by talking to you first," an El Dorado County investigator said during a 1999 interrogation of Connie Dahl. "You don't know what the other two are going to say," the investigator said.
"You're right," Dahl replied.
It was Connie Dahl's confession, nearly 15 years after the 1985 stabbing death of El Dorado County newspaper columnist Jane Hylton, that sent Dahl's former boyfriend, Ricky Davis, to prison.
Years later, El Dorado D.A. Vern Pierson reexamined the evidence after listening to the decades-old interrogation and confession.
Investigators lied to Dahl, insisting they knew what happened, and described the scenario to Dahl.
"You don't remember any of that?" the investigator said.
"You know what? I think they did get into an argument," Dahl replied.
That prompted Dahl to change her story 15 years after the murder, ultimately leading to Ricky Davis' conviction.
Dahl later died of a drug overdose but years later, genealogy DNA cleared Davis who was released in 2020 after 15 years behind bars.
You may remember, this was the first case in the country where genealogy DNA led, both, to the acquittal of a man who had been convicted of murder based on a false confession and it identified a new suspect, Michael Green.
But when it comes to convictions based on false confessions, Ricky Davis is not alone.
According to data compiled by the Innocence Project, there have been at least 375 DNA exonerations: Nearly a third (29%) involved false confessions, and 31% of those false confessors were 18 or younger at the time of their arrest.
A new California law now prohibits law enforcement from using threats, lies, or other "psychologically manipulative" interrogation on juvenile suspects.
But according to the Innocence Project, the majority (69%) of false confessors were adults at the time of the arrest.
Adults like Connie Dahl.
"Do you think there are a lot more (people like) Ricky Davis that are behind bars right now?" we asked DA Pierson.
"I don't know, I suspect that there are," he responded. "And at the same time, the person who actually did it is out walking the street, maybe victimizing somebody else," he added.
Pierson says the Davis case forever changed the way he views interrogations.
"Ten years ago, if you would have asked me, 'would someone confess to a murder they had nothing to do with,' I would not have been able to believe that just based upon my experience of training," he said. But now living it and seeing the forensic evidence first hand in the Davis case, it has changed my perspective."
He points to research that shows deceptive interrogation tactics have been used by law enforcement for years - techniques that presume guilt and focus on getting a confession, rather than the full story.
"Certain types of interrogation techniques have a higher risk of producing a false confession than others," Pierson explained, "they're the most common techniques."
So, the veteran district attorney is now implementing a new policy in his office and is urging other district attorneys to do the same.
The El Dorado County D.A.'s office will now reject nearly any case where the primary evidence is a confession obtained using threats, lies, or psychologically manipulative interrogation tactics.
It's a surprising stance for a tough-on-crime conservative D.A. and past president of the District Attorney's Association.
His policy is similar to the new California law that prohibits those techniques when interrogating minors. It faced opposition from many in law enforcement.
"Some argue this policy puts burdensome restrictions on officers'. How much pushback are you getting?" we asked.
"Some. I wouldn't say a lot," Pierson said, adding, "The pushback -- it's against change."
He notes there are exceptions to the no-lying rule for things like imminent threats and undercover investigations. But Pierson says D.A.s across the state are now considering similar policies and are signing up to take his training course on alternate science-based interrogation techniques.
Because, following the Ricky Davis case, and others like it, their mission is to ensure no one is ever again convicted based on a coerced false confession while the guilty walk free.
Yolo and Placer County district attorneys' offices are scheduled to take part in an upcoming joint training on alternate interrogation techniques and the Yolo county DA tells CBS13 that he is considering a similar policy to El Dorado's.
Meanwhile, Michael Green is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday -- now 37 years after Jane Hylton's murder, and nearly two and a half years after Ricky Davis was acquitted for that murder.
