Card Decks and Criminal Investigations

Officials are hopeful that a new deck of cards could close some of the 20,000 unsolved murders in the Sunshine State.

The cards, which can be used for playing, were created to shed light on Florida’s unsolved cold cases, through a partnership between Crime Stoppers and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida’s Department of Corrections and Florida’s Attorney General.

The concept was put into action in July 2007 when approximately 100,000 decks of these cold case playing cards were distributed to inmates in the state’s prisons.

State Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that she felt this was the right time to create and distribute another deck of cold case playing cards  “These 20,000 cases don’t just represent those victims. They represent the families of all of those who are still craving and yearning for justice in their families’ cases,” she added.

Informer Tips

A person who sees an image on the ace of spades and calls police would most likely be an anonymous informant. These individuals, like paid informants, are almost always unreliable.

Before we get started, we should point out that there’s a difference between reliability and accuracy, especially to a Tampa criminal defense lawyer. If Michelle writes a legal memo for her boss and doesn’t cite any cases, her conclusions might well be accurate, but legally, the information is unreliable.

Anonymous tips are very similar. If the tipster doesn’t vouch for the information’s reliability, there is no reason for a judge to seriously consider it.

Compensation to a paid informer usually means money (typically lots of money) or a promise of leniency in another proceeding (tell us the name of your supplier and we’ll drop the drug possession charges against you).

Incidentally, a promise of leniency isn’t a guarantee. Prosecutors can press whatever charges they want, regardless of a police officer’s recommendation.

Paid informer tips are unreliable because many people will say practically anything for love or money. Confessions obtained through torture are unreliable for basically the same reason. At some point, people will say anything to stop the torture.

Once upon a time, courts used a specific formula to evaluate reliability. Today, judges have almost unlimited discretion in this area. When judges have discretion, Tampa criminal defense lawyers have a chance to do what they do best.

Lineup Identifications

These identifications, which are usually the next step in a criminal investigation, are often almost as unreliable as paid informer or anonymous informer tips.

Severe trauma affects recall. In one study, an actor aggressively interrogated, almost berated, individuals for several hours apiece. The next day, these individuals couldn’t pick the interrogator out of a lineup. The same principle applies if John sees a serious crime and tells authorities about it.

Most lineups are single-blind live lineups, single-blind photo lineups, or individual photo lineups. Each format has reliability issues.

In a single-blind lineup, the administering officer knows the suspect’s identity. The witness doesn’t know. These administering officers often give witnesses subtle clues, such as putting the suspect in the middle or asking “are you sure that’s him” if the witness picks someone else.

A single photo “is this him” lineup is even worse. The witness feels intense pressure to say “yes, that’s him.” Changing the lineup instructions often cures this problem. If the administering officer says the suspect “may or may not be” in this lineup, the pressure is off.

Double-blind lineups (neither the officer nor the witness knows the suspect’s identity) are much more reliable.

Incidentally, suspects have a Fifth Amendment right to refuse to appear in lineups or pose for pictures. The right to remain silent is very broad.

Count on a Dedicated Hillsborough County Attorney

A criminal charge is not the same thing as a criminal conviction. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense lawyer in Tampa, contact the OA Law Firm. Convenient payment plans are available.

Source:

gulflive.com/news/2024/06/floridas-cold-case-crisis-more-than-20k-murders-remain-unsolved.html