| EVENT DETAIL |
| Interrogation and Confessions: Is It Time to Require the Videotaping of Custodial Interrogations and Should Expert Testimony on Reliability of Confessions be Permitted? Thursday, May 22, 2008 6:30 – 9 pm Event has expired. Registration for this event is no longer available. Jeffrey Deskovic served sixteen years in jail for a murder to which he confessed but which DNA evidence conclusively proved he did not commit. More recently, Martin Tankleff, who had confessed to killing his parents 20 years ago, was granted a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence, which totally refuted the reliability of his confession. These cases illustrate the importance of exploring whether police interrogations of all persons suspected of involvement in violent felonies should be recorded. They also raise the question of the admissibility of expert testimony to assist jurors in understanding why someone might confess to a crime he did not commit. This program will address both the proposition that interrogations should be recorded and the phenomenon of false confessions. Specifically, panel members will discuss the merits of a proposed amendment to the New York Criminal Procedure Law that would require the videotaping of custodial interrogations and explore how influence and police interrogation techniques can result in a false confession. Program Chair: KENNETH C. MURPHY Simon & Partners LLP Moderator: HON. ANNE G. FELDMAN Retired Supreme Court Justice, Kings County Speakers: RICHARD J. OFSHE, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley HON. JOSEPH R. LENTOL Chair, New York State Assembly Committee on Codes PROF. EDWARD K. CHENG Associate Professor, Criminal Law, Brooklyn Law School KYLE REEVES Executive Assistant District Attorney, Kings County STEPHEN TURANO Criminal Defense Attorney Sponsored by: Committee on Criminal Law, Hon. Ann G. Feldman, Chair CLE credit will be available at no cost. The number of credits has not yet been determined. |