The Whole Truth

The interrogation method of questioning a suspect in an accusatory fashion, which Richard A. Leo describes in “The Whole Truth” [interview by Mark Leviton, July 2017], is referred to as the Reid technique. It’s infamous for getting false confessions. One of its developers built his career on the conviction of a man named Darryl Parker, who was wrongly accused of murder and spent years in prison before being exonerated.

Police have even used this unethical and deceptive technique on crime victims. Aaron Quinn and his girlfriend, Denise Huskins, suffered a home invasion, assault, and robbery in which both were forcibly sedated and Huskins was kidnapped. The police decided Quinn had murdered Huskins, and during the interrogation they would not allow him to talk to a lawyer, provided little food and water, forced him to wear a prison jumpsuit, and so on. Quinn did not confess, and when Huskins eventually turned up alive, the police denounced the couple as liars and planned to prosecute them for the “hoax” — until their assailant perpetrated a similar home invasion in a neighboring suburb.

The Reid technique was also used on a woman named Marie who, after a childhood of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, suffered a home invasion and a prolonged sexual assault. The police accused her of false reporting, interrogated her, and threatened to jail her if she failed a polygraph test. Ignorant of her rights, Marie falsely confessed that she’d lied about the assault. She was prosecuted, forced to pay a fine, and given a year of probation. The criminal who raped Marie was eventually apprehended in another state with pictures of Marie in his possession. She sued and won a settlement.

Most Western European countries have stopped using the Reid technique, but here in the U.S. it is being taught to school principals, private security firms, and employers.

It pained me when Richard A. Leo said, “In what universe do rapists wear condoms?” The sorry truth is that it’s this universe.

Less than ten years ago, women in Kansas City, Missouri, lived in fear of the so-called Waldo Rapist, a man who wore a condom and forced his victims to bathe after his assaults so as not to leave any DNA evidence behind.

Richard A. Leo ably conveys the damage done to the innocent who endure police interrogations, but I’d like to point out an additional problem: the real perpetrator of the crime is still out there. When the defendant is exonerated, we seldom hear of law enforcement going back to solve the case. Police and prosecutors may want a conviction more than they want justice.