He was interviewed by three ignorant and zealous men who should not be in law enforcement. Their utter lack of training was appalling.
Listening to the quotes of statistics, I agree with the finding that police officers who take Statement Analysis training were tested before and after the training with these results:
1. The police scored lower than the general public on identifying liars
2. After taking training, the police scores remained lower than the general public.
Police often feel that "everyone" is lying.
This week, I met a woman who spoke to me after my speech in Boulder in which I mentioned how poorly police are in catching liars. She said, "my husband is a detective", so I thought to myself, 'brace yourself for some anger', but instead of anger she was laughing and said how incredibly accurate my description was. She said her husband never believes her (her laughter dissipated) and thinks that "everyone" is lying. She also said he is leaving law enforcement for insurance investigations. I encouraged her to encourage him to training.
The SCAN training is difficult. My estimation is this:
If one takes the SCAN training (See LSISCAN.com) and works diligently in practicing, in about two years, the "analyst" will emerge. As for practice, I am thinking of working on statements, every day, without fail, for 2 hours per day until the magical number is reached:
1000 hours.
1000 hours is often sited as the mark of proficiency in learning any skill, from guitar study to analysis.
In the case of Thomas Cogdell, there are two things which stand out:
1. "I didn't do it" is spoken plainly, early and often. Only when he enters the language of the ignorant accusers does he frame "I killed her"; which is their language; not his. At one point of the video, he whispers to his mother that he didn't do it but will tell them he did. He may have thought he was protecting her.
His language showed veracity.
2. False confession
In listening to his confession, it is immediately apparent that the language did not come from memory. In fact, without analysis, I heard him go out of chronological order, at least twice, regarding the event.
His language showed confession.
False confessions do not come from memory. If someone is beaten, or sleep deprived, or coerced into a confession, since it does not come from experiential memory, it can only contain the words of the interrogator (parroting language) or it will show deception.
False confessions are deceptive statements and are seen as such.
When Amanda Knox defenders claim she was beaten and threatened into a false confession, Statement Analysis showed that it came from experiential memory: She was not lying: She had guilty knowledge of the murder---she may not have inflicted the blows (I believe she did not) but she was present and helped the clean up.
This is why she was deceptive when she went to blame someone else: she had the need to deceive.
Statement Analysis is added to the following article, in bold type.
'We'll give you the death penalty': How police 'forced innocent boy, 12, to confess to strangling his sister, 11
A 12-year-old boy found guilty of murdering his 11-year-old sister said he was forced to confess to the murder after hours of 'terrifying' police interrogation - although he had nothing to do with it.
Police suspected Thomas Cogdell, now 18, had strangled his sister at their Camden, Arkansas home after his shock at her death stunned him into silence. Hours later, he admitted he was to blame.
Although found guilty, Cogdell insists he had no part in her murder and was coerced into a confession. After two years in jail, he was released when a judge found he was unfairly questioned.
Distress: During interrogation, Thomas Cogdell, then 12, told police 36 times he did not murder his sister. He said when police turned off the recorder, he was pressured into confessing his 'guilt'
During questioning following the 2006 crime, the boy - an intelligent bookworm - told police 36 times he had had no part in the killing.
But when he asked for food, officers switched off the tape recorder. Three-and-a-half hours later they switched it on again - and Cogdell confessed to the murder.
They had allegedly used tactics such as threatening him with the death penalty. He was unaware a child cannot be sentenced to such a penalty.
He eventually told police he had snapped because his sister was bossy and he put the bags over her head to teach her a lesson, The Commerical Appeal reported.
But in reality, he had made up the confession, believing that DNA evidence would clear him.
Police had told him they found a fingerprint on the plastic bags. He can be heard at the end of the recording whispering to his mother: 'I didn't do it. It's OK, Mom. They won't find my fingerprints.'
On tape, he is repeatedly heard telling police, "I didn't kill her", and "I did not kill my sister", though each time, it was ignored by police.
Murdered: Kaylee Cogdell, 11, was found dead on her bed with bags tied around her head. Her brother remained calm, which police saw as a sign of guilt
As it turned out, police were unable to read a clear print and the boy was found guilty of murdering his young sister as she slept.
'I was terrified,' Cogdell, now 18, said in a recent interview. 'They wouldn't believe me and they said they would give me the death penalty.'
The case is just the latest example fuelling the debate about whether police interrogations should be recorded.
In August 2006, Cogdell was awoken by his mother, Melody Jones. Together they found 11-year-old Kaylee sprawled on her bed.
Her head was covered with two Walmart bags, and she had been tied up with the family dog's lead and a measuring tape, The Commerical Appeal reported.
When his mother became too hysterical, he calmly called 911 and gave directions to their family home.
Police dragged him in for questioning, turning their attentions away from his mother, who Cogdell and his grandparents insist is guilty of the murder.
Melody Jones admitted to police she had repeatedly smacked her daughter the night before her death when she refused to come home as she had been told.
They ignored her confession that she was on Social Security disability due to mental illness, including bipolar disorder, and that she sometimes failed to take her medicine.
A video of the questioning show investigators repeatedly telling the boy: 'You or your mother did it.'
Although an unknown male's DNA was found on Kaylee, investigators ruled out the possibility of an intruder as there were no signs of a break in.
Interview: Cogdell's mother, Melody Jones, is treated more compassionately than her son during interrogation. Cogdell believes his mother, who had a history of mental illness, is guilty of killing Kaylee
Cogdell said when the recorder was off, he was told he could go home if he told investigators he was to blame and he'd go to jail if he didn't, according to The Commerical Appeal.
But in at least 36 recorded denials, he is heard pleading with police.
Crying, he offered to swear on a Bible or take a polygraph test.'I wouldn't kill my sister. I didn't do it, OK?,' he said. 'I didn't. I didn't kill my sister. Is there any way I can prove that to you?'
One of the detectives asked: 'What are you crying for?'
Can we even imagine such ignorance on the part of a man who carries a weapon? "What are you crying for?" to a kid who's accused of murdering his sister? I can only imagine the psychological profile of this detective!
He responded: 'Because you are accusing me of something I didn't do -- of killing my sister.'
When police left, Thomas let out shrill cries and said to himself: 'Why? ... I didn't do it, but they won't believe me. Help. I'm scared.'
He is repeatedly heard talking to himself, saying "I didn't kill her"
He was eventually convicted of second-degree murder by a Ouachita County judge in March 2008.
The high court threw out the confession in 2010 - but on technical grounds as he had told police he didn't understand what it meant to waive his rights to remain silent and have an attorney with him.
He served two years in jail but has not been cleared.
'I lost my faith in the justice system,' Cogdell said. 'I don't believe in any of it anymore.'
Memphis defense attorney Gray Bartlett told The Commerical Appeal that police are often trained in the type of military tactics used in questioning suspected terrorists.
'It's so contrary to common sense,' he said of false confessions. 'But what happens in these interrogation rooms is that they break down people's will.'
Steve Drizin, a lawyer with the Center on Wrongful Conviction of Youth, said: 'The interrogation is one of the most riveting examples of psychological torture I have ever seen.'
But prosecuting attorney Robin Carroll to the Appeal: 'No evidence or court holding has been forthcoming to cause my office to doubt anything done in the case, or its basis.'
Simply put:
Statement Analysis showed that he did not kill his sister and was telling the truth.
Statement Analysis showed that when he confessed to killing his sister, he was deceptive.
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