"Only Domonic can say whether he did or didn't." A mentor intervenesįaulkner had been mentored by the jeweler Tom Smyth since 2006. "I can't tell you he did or didn't" understand, she said. "He had the capacity to" understand what was happening during the interrogation, she testified. His "adaptive functioning" pushed him up out of the intellectually disabled range, she determined. He was able to hold jobs, maintain a household and care for his children. But she said other aspects of his life showed him to be higher functioning. "Whatever his vulnerability is, that situation did not exploit those vulnerabilities." "It was very short, simple, question and answer, tell us about this, tell us about that," she testified at Faulkner's trial. Christiane Tellefsen, found the interview with detectives brief and unremarkable - not the kind of grueling marathon session that might produce a false confession under duress.
He said detectives had used coercive interrogation techniques developed to instill fear in suspects and lead them to believe they will be found guilty. Delgado's ability to clarify any confusion," O'Connell wrote. Faulkner's shame regarding his disabilities and efforts he makes to mask his deficits or present what has been referred to as a 'cloak of competence' would limit Det. In a report, O'Connell wrote that Faulkner had a "history of being influenced and exploited by other people." Michael O'Connell, who examined Faulkner for the defense, reported that he suffered "significant cognitive and developmental deficits" and displayed risk factors for giving a false confession. Psychologists who evaluated Faulkner for the defense and for prosecutors would come to opposite conclusions about his mental abilities.ĭr. Police found a gold cross medallion believed to have belonged to the victim, who at that point was a John Doe.ĭelgado, the lead detective, took possession of the victim's phone. A single bullet had entered through his shoulder and ricocheted through his heart and lungs.Ī block away, officers found what they believed to be the scene of the shooting. A silver 2000 Mercedes Benz had crashed into a tree with enough force to blow its airbags, and a man inside was unconscious.Īs medics administered CPR, they found the man had suffered a gunshot wound. Police were called to the 2800 block of Mosher Street in West Baltimore just after midnight on March 4, 2013, for what appeared to be a car accident. "Do you believe the defendant when he said he shot David Womack? Do you believe him?" ‘Where u at?’ "It's been pretty obvious what the question is in this trial," Assistant State's Attorney Terrence Nash told jurors in his closing argument. Sometimes that happens," he said in a recent interview.Īt trial, Faulkner and his attorneys had the challenge of arguing against his own words. Heath, the detective, said it was a "solid case."įaulkner "seemed like a nice young kid, who just got caught up in a moment. When a judge threw out Faulkner's confession over questions about whether he should have had a lawyer present, prosecutors fought to get it reinstated - and won. They say he provided details of Womack's killing that could have been known only by the person who committed the crime. Police and prosecutors say Faulkner's was no such case. Garrett says a common thread ran through many of those cases: Detectives subjected the suspects to accusatory interrogations, made threats, and then helped the suspect shape his or her account, often supplying facts the suspect didn't know. Still, in 75 of those cases, the defendant had confessed. That is, the physical evidence showed that they did not commit the crime.
Garrett has found 350 cases in which defendants were convicted of a range of crimes but later exonerated by DNA.
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