False Evidence

Years ago, I testified as an expert on false confessions in a case in Kentucky which resulted in a hung jury (with ten jurors voting to acquit).  Tragically, in the re-trial, the defendant was convicted.  I recently learned that last year Kentucky’s Supreme Court vacated the conviction because the trial court should not have admitted the defendant’s confession into evidence.  Police had confronted the defendant with (among other things) a forged lab report purporting to establish his guilt.  As false claims of evidence contribute to many false confessions, this decision is most welcome.