Conference tallis::celt

1198.0. "Wrongful convictions" by KOALA::HOLOHAN () Wed Mar 17 1993 17:01

              More Wrongful Convictions
                by Sandy Carlson

Patrick Nash, a post-graduate student at Queen's University, Belfast,
was arrested October 1991 at this parent's house in Coleraine, County
Derry, for an incident which had taken place in Coleraine a few days
before, when Nash was 70 miles away at the University in Belfast.

Nash was held six days, during which three teams of RUC officers
interviewed him in about 30 sessions.  During interrogation, the RUC
beat, threatened, and verbally abused Nash.  He suffered consistent and
heavy blows to his head, neck, face, testicles, and stomach, and was
threatened that loyalist or the British Army's SAS would kill him.  At
the end of six days, the RUC charged Nash with murder, possessing
explosives, attempted murder, and conspiracies based on verbal
admissions and a short statement he made under duress.  There was no
corroborating evidence.

After his interrogation, Nash had a continuously runny nose until, about
five weeks after he was charged, he collapsed and was taken to the
hospital.  Neurosurgeons discovered that the runny nose was caused by
cerebro-spinal fluid dripping from a tear in the lining of his brain as
a result of the RUC beatings.  He has consequently lost his sense of
smell.  Nash spent a year on remand before he won his court case and was
freed.

Patrick Nash, the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, the Maguire Seven,
Judith Ward, Nick Kelly, and the Winchester Three have served
approximately 235 years for convictions that were later overturned, in
part because their police interview notes were Electro-Stasis Document
Analysis (ESDA) tested and found to be rewritten.  The ESDA is a
forensic technique which allows a scientist to read the impressions on a
sheet of paper made on the page on top of it.  In this way, a scientist
can determine whether notes were rewritten.

Many prisoners in Northern Ireland say they, like the Birmingham Six and
Guildford Four, were wrongfully convicted on the basis of verbal
confessions or statements made under duress, and have tried to get their
original RUC interview notes ESDA tested.

When a number of prisoners recently applied to RUC Chief Constable Hugh
Annesley to have their notes ESDA tested, the RUC advised four of the
five who have received replies that, after "a diligent and thorough
search," the documents could not be found.  The RUC told another
prisoner they would not allow his papers to be tested because doing so
would set a precedent that would lead to a flood of requests for tests.

In the case of Barry Murray, his police interview notes were tested and
showed substantial rewriting.  Nevertheless, he was convicted in a
Diplock court solely on the basis of unsigned, uncorroborated, and
totally disputed verbal admissions.  Before his appeal, Murray requested
further ESDA tests, but the RUC told him that none of the documentation
could be found.

Then, in December 1992, Seamus Mullans, who was sentenced to life for
murder in 1985, applied to Annesley to have his interview notes handed
over for handwriting and syntax tests.  The Chief Constable said he
would not do so "unless a full and reasoned case was put forward."  When
Mullan's lawyer presented the case, the RUC said the relevant paper work
could not be found.

Eddie Harkin, who was arrested in 1977 after an explosion killed a
soldier, claims that he signed a statement admitting involvement in the
killing after he was tortured.  His doctor and the RUC doctor noted ;the
injuries he received while in custody.  The only evidence against Harkin
was his statement.  When Harkin said he signed because he was
ill-treated, the judge rejected his claim as "too plausible" and said he
believed his injuries were self-inflicted.  Harkin, like Mullans, has
protested his innocence since his conviction and has requested that his
notes be tested.  Like Mullans, he has been told the notes are missing.

Like the exoneration of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four, the
number of incidents of missing interview notes begs the question:  How
many others have been wrongfully convicted of a crime they did not
commit?  The number of instances in which interview notes have
"disappeared" suggests that there are many, many more cases of innocent
people serving lengthy sentences for offenses they did not commit.