Assignment:
Missing and Murder Investigation
In many cases, a suspect will consent to an interview and waive his/her rights but not be completely truthful in the interview.
Smith Collins reported to the police that his father was missing and that he was unable to trace his father's whereabouts. Collins' father's body was recovered from the sea a few days later. He had died of asphyxiation even before his body had been dumped in the sea. A neighbor had seen the father tending the plants in the garden on the morning of the day he disappeared. The investigating officers could not find any evidence of an intruder at the house.
The lifeguard at the beach thought that the photograph of Smith looked similar to a person who had hired a boat to go fishing on that day. Further investigation revealed that Smith had a history of paranoid schizophrenia and had been in treatment for the previous six years. Smith expressed shock and grief at being suspected of his father's murder and consented to be interviewed by the police.
Is it possible to obtain a confessional statement from the suspect in this case?
Discuss the strategies that you would adopt if you were to interview this suspect. How would you handle a statement you knew to be untrue from this suspect?