Official obstruction of justice
There are different ways to conduct interviews, depending on what you want to achieve in the interview. In law schools they usually offer a class on interviewing which teaches, among other things, how to get the most accurate and truthful information from an interview. You begin with broad, open ended questions, who, what, when, where, why, and how, allowing the subject to speak freely and not limiting their responses. Further along into the interview you may narrow the scope of your questions, to focus on what you have identified as the important issues, the topics you want to know more about, or the subject matter that they left out.
If you are seeking the truth, the above method is without a doubt the most reliable. On the other hand, if you are seeking only to verify what you already believe to be true or if you are seeking to make the subject say what you want them to say, you would use more coercive methods, such as the Reid technique or variations thereof that are taught to law enforcement.
In preparation for a murder trial, recently I interviewed a witness. There were times during the interview where I told them what others had said and asked them to confirm or deny, but for the most part I tried to just ask them to tell me what had happened and what they knew. Most of what I was told confirmed what I already knew from other witnesses, and I didn't have to trick the person, lie to them, or scare them into telling the truth. After this, I was reviewing a typical police interview of a witness in the same case, where the investigators were convinced they had everything figured out.
In the beginning of the interview, they tell the subject that they already know everything and there is nothing that the subject can tell them that they don't already know. They only want the subject to listen and they are going to tell him what happened. They then proceed to tell the subject what they want him to say, in great detail. When the subject tells them that they are wrong, and tries to tell them what actually happened, he is told he is lying. They then tell him that they know he is lying because A, B, and C have already told them what the subject's involvement was. I know that A, B, nor C ever spoke to the police about this case.
They tell the subject that A is telling them that the subject is the "ringleader" and that A is laying all the blame on him. They tell the subject that if he does not clear the air he is going to have to take the fall. They tell him that A is saying it happened this way _________. But, the truth is, if it happened this other way __________ they can understand that, it's alright. Scenario number 2 is not nearly so bad as what A is trying to pin on him (but admitting to scenario number 2 would in fact be a confession to a crime). They also want him to tell them what they want to hear about A's involvement. They tell him they are going to be there for days if he does not say what they want him to say.
The subject continues to deny what they are saying, and repeatedly tells them he is not going to lie. At one point, he asks what they want him to say. The response is, I want you to say that A did this. The subject says I am not going to lie, and the cop's response is it's not a lie, because I know A did this.
The end result in this particular interview was that the interrogators lost control of the interview, lost all credibility with the subject, and he did not tell them what they wanted to hear. They did not keep him in the interrogation room for days, and he did not succumb to the pressure. But watching these interviews it is easy to see how police when applying these techniques can and do obtain false confessions from people. Persuade the subject that they are not leaving that room until they say what the police want them to. That there is overwhelming evidence proving what the subject knows is not true. That things will go easy on him if he just says what the police want him to. That if he does not say what the police want him to things will get much harder.
What occurs to me is the difference between my interviews and police interviews. What would happen if I interrogated a prosecution witness in the same manner that the police interrogated this guy, and the prosecutor got his hands on the video? When the police twist interviews to make witnesses or future defendants admit whatever facts support their case, provided Miranda rights are read, usually whatever is said is admissible at trial and the jury will overlook or not care about the methods used. It is called good police work. If a defense attorney were to use these same methods to twist the truth I am sure that it would be called obstruction of justice.
