adamant he was innocent. i had nothing to do with this. i swear to god. so, what could ve possibly led to this? you stab that women. why would he convince to something you didn t do? why would he? what s really happened during that police interrogation. the evidence shows you were there. i can lie about the evidence. i can t lie to you about this. the officers lying about lying. and extraordinary look inside the interview room. if you don t talk to me i can t keep this is one of the most intense interrogations i ve ever seen. welcome to dateline. how could you confess to a crime you didn t commit? it seems to defy logic and common sense, but advocates say, it s happens for more often than any of us realizes. here s keith morrison with the interrogation. a freak snowstorm, like an omen, smothered the little town in the blue ridge mountains. february 19th, 2003, just before 9 am, winter or no, crozet, virginia was not used to this. and then throu
they are entitled with the law to what is called an appropriate that might be a parent or a social worker. they are entitled to that, as well as their legal representative. but when the interrogation rules were changed? veteran officers were not happy. they resisted. detective trevor remembers it well. people thought this was a draconian piece of legislation that would prevent us from other detecting anything ever again you would never solve a crime anymore? we would never solve a crime anymore it would tie our hands. detection rates in respect to homicide in the uk are very high. they are up in the 90% mark. and, along the way, said the detective, confessions of hallmark case servings in the u.s. became much less important here in britain. we would not prosecute someone solely on a confession. so somebody did make a confession, we would try to corroborate what they say but isn t a confession the strongest evidence you can get? not always.
who would listen. robert remained right where he was, in prison. during those same years, we asked repeatedly for an interview with randy snead, the officer who took roberts confession. but, as close as we got was county police chief, colonel steve sellers, since retired. he wasn t in office when snead was detective, but we ve talked to him. what s your sense of how he feels? i think he acted in his best interest. i think there wasn t malice in his actions. i think he had a very strong relationship with robert davis. but, this was interesting. chief sellers did not supports needs interrogations. not at all. i would say this, i believe the confession is an unreliable confession. what s more, the chief updated police methods when he took over. helping to prevent the kind of interrogation that ended up in the confession.
situations just like his, in jails all around the country, who confessed as teenagers to primes that they maybe did not commit. in fact, to prevent that very thing, police departments in many other countries banned or dispensed years ago, with interrogation techniques still used in america. had the murder happened elsewhere, for example, here in the united kingdom, it is probable that robert still would be brought in for questioning. he was after all, named as a suspect by others in the case. but the chances that he would have been charged or interviewed for very long? close to is gyro the interview, as it is on the recording would not be legal in the uk. but evidence would not be admitted in a trial. this is andy griffith, 30 years as a detective in the uk s police department, recognized for is investigative interviews. when griffiths was a rookie,
whipped anybody. i didn t cut nobody. i don t say you do. i didn t do nobody. and in saint-jean nobody. robert, i want to come straight out and tell you what i m getting it. since jonathan me. you stabbed that woman. i stabbed. are you stabbed her, didn t you? one one or two times. then, snead asked robert, where? we re about somebody? it was in the middle. and again sneaker exum. you had a knife in your hand, all right? and prior to stabbing, stabbing her in the back, you cut her. it was essentially the police s convention, now roberts. do you think by me telling you this is gonna giving home tonight? tonight? today? i doubt it. well then why am i lying about all this to, to so i can go home? you re not lying. i am lying to you. i m lying to forefront, full frontier face. i am lying to you. i m lying to you, just so i can go home. which is exactly what juveniles