After listing and participating in Terrill Swift’s presentation on wrongful convictions I was sickened. He shared with us his story and brought attention to other wrongfully convicted cases and how they occur. Terrill was in prison for 15 years and on parole for two years. He was exonerated this January! He is now thirty four; he was arrested when he was seventeen, all of those years for a crime he didn’t commit. I did not understand how this could happen. I asked many questions during his presentation. All of the evidence that was clearing his name from the case was disregarded due to his signed confession. Terrill hadn’t even known that he signed a confession. His entire sentence was thrust upon him by police mistreatment.
I often find the films, articles and discussions from class compelling; but Terrill’s presentation affected me like no other one had. I spent the rest of my day talking about what I had heard. I had so many emotions. I was sad, guilty, angry, embarrassed, most of all I felt disappointed. I have always and would always like to think that the police are there to help us and keep us safe. Terrill shared the exact same thought. I feel let down and bullied. What if I was in that situation? What would they do to me? How could they deceive me into signing my own arrest? It is just disgusting. Terrill called the cops because they had been looking for him for allegedly holding someone. The issue of holding someone was never addressed, and then he agreed to go to the station and identify pictures. He got there and no pictures were laid in front of him. Instead several cops proceeded to badger him and threaten him about a murder and rape. He had no idea what they were talking about. They told him to sign a paper validating that he had no information on the case, then he could go home. What they actually had him sign was a confession and they arrested him on the spot.
This false confession was the number one contributor to his arrest. It is the only evidence linking him to the case. Where I find the biggest fault in the justice system is that there is no way to verify that the defendant knew what they were signing. If they didn’t know they were signing a confession then they truly aren’t confessing to anything at all. All police interrogation rooms have cameras. During his trial I think a life changing bit of evidence could have been the tape from that interrogation. It would show the mistreatment of the cops. They would see that he had no idea what they were talking about. And it would be extremely obvious that he was tricked into signing the confession therefore making it irrelevant. Without the confession he is a free man. There has to be a more efficient way to certify a confession. Until that happens I fear many more people will be wrongfully convicted.
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