First District Holds Reid Techniques Rendered Youth’s Confession Involuntary

In a published opinion in In re Elias V., A140263, the First District held that the ubiquitous Inbau and Reid techniques of “maximization” and “minimization,” as applied to the 13-year-old interrogated at school, rendered his confession involuntary.

This lengthy (36 page) scholarly opinion, critical of these techniques because it is now well established that they result in wrongful convictions, should be very helpful in many 602 cases.

Congratulations to trial attorney Richard Scott of Santa Rosa for briefing this issue in the trial court and insisting on justice for this client, PJDC’s very own Richard Braucher for his work on the appeal, and Joshua Tepfer and Megan Crane of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth at Northwestern University for their amicus support.