Vent v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 7 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “McLemore requires that this Court conduct a reliability determination before allowing expert testimony in the field of false or coerced confessions. The initial Daubert reliability factors are: (1) the theory's testability, (2) whether it has been a subject of peer review or publication, (3) the known or potential rate of error, and (4) the degree of acceptance within the relevant scientific community. When applying these reliability factors to the proposed testimony the Court finds that the theory of coerced or false confession characteristics or traits cannot be tested according to Dr. Redlich. It has been subject to limited peer review by a very small group of researchers some of whom recognized the weakness of the current empirical foundation of their field. That it has no published rate of error at worst according to Dr. Redlich and at best, the rate or error is approximately 45% according to Paul G. Cassell. Finally, the Court finds that the area of coerced confessions is not widely accepted in the relevant scientific community nor is it widely accepted in the legal community. In summary this Court would have to simply accept the ipse dixit of Dr. Redlich if it were to allow the submission of the proposed testimony to a jury. That is the evidence is reliable because I say it is reliable. "Impressions gleaned from clinical experience or individual case studies concerning the possibility of false [testimony], offers no inherent advantage over the knowledge possessed by or”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Edmonds v. State

2. ““Sometimes, people do make false statements, even if they’re not physically tortured or mentally ill. ... There is psychological research that explains how certain [interrogation] techniques can lead people to make the decision to confess, whether they’re guilty or innocent. And . . . there are certain principles of analysis that researchers use to evaluate whether or not a statement is likely reliable or likely unreliable.”[ 95 ]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Rafay