Virginia Republicans Vote Down Bill To Ban Police Use of Forged Evidence Documents During Interrogat

[Kamaji]

Virginia Republicans Vote Down Bill To Ban Police Use of Forged Evidence Documents During Interrogations

The bill was introduced in response to a state investigation that found police used fake forensic evidence during interrogations.

By Corey Walker
February 2, 2022

Virginia Republicans in the state's House of Delegates voted down a bill in committee last Friday that would've prohibited Virginia police from using false documents when interrogating suspects.

Delegate Jackie Glass (D–Norfolk) sponsored House Bill 1281 after former Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring revealed in January that the Virginia Beach Police Department had forged forensic science reports at least five times for use in interrogations. After an investigation by the Virginia Office of Civil Rights, the city and the department agreed to end the practice.

Glass's bill would've prohibited police from using "any document generated by law-enforcement officers or their agents that (i) contains a false statement, signature, seal, letterhead, or contact information or (ii) materially misrepresents any fact" when conducting "a custodial interrogation to secure from any person his cooperation or confession or to secure a conviction."

Republicans, who have a majority in the Virginia House and killed the bill in the Courts of Justice subcommittee, defended the practice of using fake documents, arguing that the criminal justice system should prioritize the needs of victims over defendants and that falsified evidence gives police an additional tool to coerce confessions.

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Source:  https://reason.com/2022/02/02/virginia-republicans-vote-down-bill-to-ban-police-use-of-forged-evidence-documents-during-interrogations/

[Kamaji]

I'm sorry, but this shouldn't even have come up in the first place.  It's one thing to try and play the head-fake game with a suspect by telling falsehoods orally and in-person during an interrogation; it is another thing entirely to forge documents - sometimes official documents - in order to force someone into confessing.

That is just wrong on more levels than I care to contemplate.

[EdinVA]

I'm sorry, but this shouldn't even have come up in the first place.  It's one thing to try and play the head-fake game with a suspect by telling falsehoods orally and in-person during an interrogation; it is another thing entirely to forge documents - sometimes official documents - in order to force someone into confessing.

That is just wrong on more levels than I care to contemplate.

So rather than a head fake, let the perp walk to rape/kill again?
Not me.....

[Kamaji]

So rather than a head fake, let the perp walk to rape/kill again?
Not me.....

If you know the suspect is really the perp, then you can prove it without using forged documents.  If you cannot prove it without extorting a false confession using forged documents, then what you thought you knew you didn't actually know, you were just prejudiced.

No sale.