Race Comments Render Confession Involuntary

A denial of a motion to suppress a confession was reversed by the Indiana Supreme Court

 Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities . . . .

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963). Dr. King’s letter expressed, in measured optimism, a desire to see a country free of racial discrimination. Writing while in jail for protesting racism and segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, he also noted the “interrelatedness” of instances of racial inequity. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he said. “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It is in service to this truth that we approach our opinion today.

 In this case, a police detective interrogated an African-American murder suspect. We have long held that law enforcement officers conducting interrogations may use a range of tactics and techniques to persuade suspects to provide incriminating statements. And we understand that simple question-and-answer methods will not always be successful. But the flexibility afforded to law enforcement is still bound by state and federal constitutional protections.

 Over the course of several hours the detective here employed a number of interrogation techniques to convince the suspect to admit his guilt. Most of these techniques were acceptable. But when he implied that the suspect’s race precluded him from receiving a fair trial and an impartial jury, he went too far…

…in considering the totality of the circumstances surrounding Bond’s interrogation, despite the otherwise permissible conduct by the detective, and despite Bond’s apparent maturity, health, education, and the favorable conditions of the interrogation, this deception by the detective tips the scale to involuntariness. We cannot tacitly countenance the erosion of everything so many have worked so hard to achieve in the realm of racial equality in the justice system—and continue to work to achieve—by disapproving of the statement but finding Bond’s confession nevertheless admissible.

The court reversed the denial of the motion to suppress. (Mike Frisch)