The Legal Update for Summer 2009 features 32 cases which address such issues as:

• Court rejects testimony of Dr. Richard Leo on false confession issue
• Expert testimony on fabrication of confessions by inmate informants rejected
• Court rejects claim confession was involuntary due to marijuana and alcohol use
• Court upholds Miranda waiver by 15 year old
• Court upholds Miranda waiver of 14 year old
• Appeals court reverses admissibility of a confession from an 11 year old because of the interrogator's behavior
• Ambiguous request to stop the interrogation - "this conversation is over"
• Ambiguous request for an attorney - "I don't know if I need an attorney or not"
• Court rejects claim that officers created an environment that caused defendant's will to be overborne
• Court finds that interrogator conduct "overbore" defendant's will and rules that the confession is inadmissible
• "Custody does not occur merely because the suspect submits to and fails a polygraph test"
• Confession suppressed when suspect questioned in his home without Miranda advisement
• Telling the suspect that the prosecutor will be advised of their cooperation does not constitute a promise of leniency; suggesting the homicide was an accident or self-defense was not coercive
• What constitutes a threat during an interrogation?
• What constitutes permissible deception by the police during an interrogation?
• A fake polygraph test did not render involuntary the defendant's incriminating statement
• Can an interrogator tell a suspect "this is just between you and me" when, in fact, the interrogation is being recorded and the recording will be used against the suspect?
• What IQ score precludes a defendant from making a knowing and intelligent waiver of their rights?
• No federal requirement to electronically record interrogation
• Confession ruled inadmissible because of faulty advisement of rights
• Juvenile's confession ruled inadmissible because of several violations of the Texas Family Code
• Confession found inadmissible due to threats and promises from the investigators
• Court rejects opinion of defense expert, Dr. Christopher Lamps, on coerced confession and waiver of rights issues
• Value of video taping the interrogation
• Court finds confession inadmissible because the Miranda rights were not properly explained to the defendant - a 15 year-old with "borderline intellectual functioning"
• Interrogators misrepresentation of evidence is insufficient to make the otherwise voluntary confession inadmissible
• Interrogator's repeated references that he could help the suspect rendered the confession involuntary
• The interrogator's implication of leniency in exchange for cooperation is not coercive
• Telling the suspect that if he tells the truth it could be in his benefit to do so and exaggerating the strength of the evidence against him does not render a confession involuntary
• Court refuses to let Dr. Jarvis Wright testify on false confessions
• Court rejects claims that there was an unambiguous request for an attorney; that the defendant's mental problems caused him to be more receptive to police coercion; and, that the fact the police lied about the evidence was coercive