Case Update: On Tuesday, March 21, 2017, Joseph Dick, Derek Tice, Danial Williams, and Eric Wilson, four innocent Navy veterans known as the ‘Norfolk Four,’ received long-awaited full pardons based on their actual innocence from Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. The Norfolk Four were wrongfully convicted of rape and murder in 1997; their case involved troubling issues of police misconduct, false confessions, and unconstitutionally suppressed evidence. See the Press Release here; and the Statement from the Governor’s Office here.
News Update: On October 27, 2010, Detective Robert Glenn Ford, the detective responsible for the wrongful conviction of the Norfolk Four, was convicted of multiple counts of extortion and lying to federal law enforcement officials. Read a press release issued by the legal team here
Norfolk Four
News Update: On October 27, 2010, Detective Robert Glenn Ford, the detective responsible for the wrongful conviction of the Norfolk Four, was convicted of multiple counts of extortion and lying to federal law enforcement officials. Read a press release issued by the legal team here
Norfolk Four
Proof of Innocence--> False Confessions
The Phenomena of False Confessions
When, as here, interrogators cross the line and employ suspect and improper interrogations tactics, even an average adult can be motivated to confess to a crime he or she did not commit. Research confirms that defendants do not immediately renounce false confessions after escaping the interrogation room. One study shows that 15 percent of defendants who made undisputedly false confessions pled guilty despite their innocence in order to avoid the risk of the death penalty or some other harsh sentence.
The Sailors’ Confessions Were False
Dr. Richard Ofshe, a sociologist and leading expert on interrogation, has focused his research and writing for nearly twenty years on the influence of interrogation tactics on a suspect’s decisions to falsely confess to a crime. Upon independent review of this case, he concludes that Detective Ford’s psychologically coercive interrogations tactics caused the sailors to give confessions that are false. In fact, Dr. Ofshe has said that this case is the “most egregious” he has encountered in his nearly twenty years of studying interrogation and false confessions.
- Dr. Richard J. Ofshe’s Biography, Summary, and Full Report: Interrogations and Confessions Analysis in the Case of the Norfolk Four
- Confession and Evidence Comparison Chart