Damon Thibodeaux - False Confessions — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:05on the evening of july the 20th 1996 the
3. 0:08body of a 14 year old girl was found
4. 0:11five miles from her home on the banks of
5. 0:13the mississippi river
6. 0:15she was partly naked and she had a red
7. 0:17extension lead around her neck
8. 0:20damon thibodeaux the victim's cousin
9. 0:22who'd been staying with her family in
10. 0:24new orleans was taken in for questioning
11. 0:27he was not arrested but was subjected to
12. 0:30an overnight interrogation during which
13. 0:32he was denied sleep
14. 0:34after over eight hours of questioning
15. 0:36and despite being innocent damon
16. 0:38confessed to raping and murdering his
17. 0:40cousin
18. 0:41this confession was factually
19. 0:43inconsistent with the actual crime in
20. 0:45many ways he described different
21. 0:47electrical cord said the injuries to her
22. 0:50head and face were caused by his hands
23. 0:52not a heavy object and forensic
24. 0:54examiners could find no trace of any
25. 0:57sexual assault or rape
26. 0:59despite this he was quickly arrested
27. 1:02convicted and sentenced to death in the
28. 1:04notorious angola prison in louisiana
29. 1:07after 15 years of work by his lawyers a
30. 1:10dna test on some blood left behind by
31. 1:12the murderer proved that damon was
32. 1:15innocent
33. 1:16he was exonerated on the 28th of
34. 1:18september 2012.
35. 1:20he now lives in minneapolis minnesota
36. 1:26crystal's mother
37. 1:27noticed that she had gone missing and
38. 1:29she started to worry
39. 1:32we searched neighborhoods
40. 1:34the park where she played softball at
41. 1:37her friends
42. 1:39there was a coast guard helicopter there
43. 1:40as well as the police
44. 1:42family friends i was looking for for
45. 1:4636 hours
46. 1:49i had just laid down to go to sleep
47. 1:52when the detectives
48. 1:54knocked on my door said they wanted to
49. 1:55ask me some questions about crystal
50. 1:58at first i thought it was just a routine
51. 2:00thing
52. 2:03her body was found as i was being
53. 2:06questioned
54. 2:07they put you in a room and
55. 2:10you know you're in a chair with a desk
56. 2:13they're allowed to
57. 2:16manipulate you threaten you
58. 2:21pretty much do whatever it takes
59. 2:24to
60. 2:25secure a confession from you
61. 2:30no one walks into an interrogation room
62. 2:33wanting to confess to something they
63. 2:34didn't do i was told i failed to
64. 2:37polygraph my witnesses weren't vouching
65. 2:39for me
66. 2:41they
67. 2:42explained in detail how someone's
68. 2:44executed
69. 2:46after having no sleep for 36 hours and
70. 2:49getting drug in for a nine hour
71. 2:50interrogation like that
72. 2:55i was not
73. 2:58willing to go any longer
74. 2:59you know i was like well
75. 3:02they're never going to let me out of
76. 3:03here until i give them what they want so
77. 3:05i gave them what they wanted
78. 3:09[Music]
79. 3:11i'm sitting in a cell and i'm hoping
80. 3:14that
81. 3:14you know
82. 3:17after the investigation it's going to
83. 3:19show i didn't do it but you know they
84. 3:21were trying to close the case and they
85. 3:23got tunnel vision and
86. 3:25i was just in the crosshairs
87. 3:29they walked into the courtroom and made
88. 3:31it sound like i just walked into this
89. 3:33interrogation room and spilled my guts
90. 3:36the jury he heard the confession and
91. 3:38that was it
92. 3:41so now i have all this time
93. 3:44if i had been strong enough and
94. 3:47survived the interrogation without
95. 3:51giving this false confession i wouldn't
96. 3:52be here
97. 3:53thoughts like that were running through
98. 3:55my head every day
99. 3:57for 15 years every day that's what i
100. 4:00would think about
101. 4:04i was seriously contemplating dropping
102. 4:06my appeals and walking to the table
103. 4:09because i thought well they're going to
104. 4:10kill me anyway so just do it now and get
105. 4:13it done
106. 4:14but
107. 4:15my lawyer walked in there and she said
108. 4:18look you didn't do it
109. 4:20i know you didn't do it
110. 4:22give me a chance
111. 4:25they said well we've pulled stuff from
112. 4:28the evidence locker and we're having
113. 4:30this tested for dna and it's showing
114. 4:31that you didn't do it
115. 4:36i've been out
116. 4:38for seven months
117. 4:40almost eight months
118. 4:42you know and uh
119. 4:46it's not easy trying to put your life
120. 4:48back together after going through
121. 4:50something like this and to just get out
122. 4:52and
123. 4:54uh
124. 4:57get thrown back into the
125. 4:59pond so to speak
126. 5:01you know it's it's
127. 5:04it's daunting at times
128. 5:06[Music]
129. 5:10i used to be one of those people who
130. 5:12believed
131. 5:14that someone would never confess to
132. 5:15something they didn't do
133. 5:17and
134. 5:18society as a whole believes that
135. 5:20but yet here
136. 5:22i am here i see it
137. 5:24you know there's a false confession out
138. 5:26there that i gave
139. 5:28for a
140. 5:30murder that someone else
141. 5:32committed um
142. 5:39until you go through it
143. 5:42you you just won't know
144. 5:45you know how how much of an
145. 5:47interrogation can you take
146. 5:50you know everyone has a point and when
147. 5:52you break you you you'll tell them
148. 5:54whatever they want to hear
149. 5:57and i
150. 5:58i would have i'd have told them anything
151. 5:59they wanted me to tell them
152. 6:02[Music]
153. 6:18you