False Confessions Are Costly

We're informed today that a New York court has awarded $340,000 in damages to Ozem Goldwire. Goldwire is a developmentally disabled man who was induced to falsely confess that he'd murdered his sister after a 21 hour interrogation.

Goldwire was exonerated in 2007 after spending a year in jail waiting for trial. A psychiatrist's report indicated that Goldwire would probably have confessed to sinking the Lusitania, the Lindbergh kidnaping, and being the man behind the fence on the grassy knoll, had he been asked to do so.

You can read more about the autistic, scatterbrained Ozem Goldwire here.

The point is, if the point escapes you when you're questioning people who may be developmentally disabled or mentally ill, you need to do some regrooving.