Scenes of a Crime
Realizador Grover Babcock, Blue Hadaegh
Países United States
Duração 88 min
Sinopse
Through one vivid example, “SCENES OF A CRIME” shows how legal police interrogation tactics (including lies, threats and psychological coercion) can produce confessions that may not be reliable. When Adrian Thomas walked into the Troy, New York police station and waived his Miranda rights, he didn't know he was being video-recorded. His infant son lay brain-dead in a hospital, and he was the main suspect. And so began a psychological battle: the detectives repeatedly lied to and threatened Thomas. They told him if he “confessed,” police would treat it as an accident, without jail. After many hours, and a trip to a psych ward, Thomas confessed to throwing his son on a bed – following a police demonstration. Thomas recanted, but then faced a huge task: proving his confession was false. The film tells the story from multiple perspectives: detectives, lawyers, expert witnesses, jurors - and Adrian Thomas himself.
Through one vivid example, “SCENES OF A CRIME” shows how legal police interrogation tactics (including lies, threats and psychological coercion) can produce confessions that may not be reliable. When Adrian Thomas walked into the Troy, New York police station and waived his Miranda rights, he didn't know he was being video-recorded. His infant son lay brain-dead in a hospital, and he was the main suspect. And so began a psychological battle: the detectives repeatedly lied to and threatened Thomas. They told him if he “confessed,” police would treat it as an accident, without jail. After many hours, and a trip to a psych ward, Thomas confessed to throwing his son on a bed – following a police demonstration. Thomas recanted, but then faced a huge task: proving his confession was false. The film tells the story from multiple perspectives: detectives, lawyers, expert witnesses, jurors - and Adrian Thomas himself.