Monday, April 17, 2000 Police stand behind videotaping their interrogations of suspects By GRACE MURPHY, Staff Writer Copyright © 2000 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend   After watching a videotape of the interrogation of Raymond Wood, a judge said Maine state police browbeat a confession out of Wood, and threw out his statements. But police say the experience won't make them stop videotaping the questioning of prisoners. Defense attorneys had urged that Wood's confession to detectives be suppressed, saying police coerced him into admitting he ran over Bessie Selek in front of their home on Route 202 in Waterboro, and then left her to die. After watching a tape of the interrogation, Justice Robert Crowley agreed, and disallowed Wood's statements. Crowley's ruling isn't expected to change what goes on inside the interview room. Good interrogation techniques caught on tape help police more often than not, according to police and legal experts. "People just can't believe that someone would admit to a homicide or a rape or a child molestation without a beating," said David Zulawski, a former police officer now with Wicklander-Zulawski and Associates in Downers Grove, Ill. "In the big scheme of things, it's probably more helpful to a police department (to tape) than not." Zulawski trains officers at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in interrogation techniques. He said it's difficult for officers to ensure they don't cross the line between aggressive questioning and violating a suspect's rights. He said Alaska, Minnesota and Texas mandate the videotaping of interrogations in certain types of cases, and many departments nationwide are adding the equipment as soon as they can afford it. Zulawski plays tapes of successful interrogations in class so officers can study conversational and body-language skills. "We're basically conversationalists. What we do is to basically rationalize whatever the person has done and make it OK to talk about without changing the elements of the crime," he said. Each department has different regulations regarding interrogations, but the Maine Criminal Justice Academy teaches guidelines in a mandatory four-hour course. Before starting, officers should provide Miranda warnings, which let suspects know their rights, such as the right to remain silent. Recommended techniques include developing a rapport with suspects. Saco Detective David Loranger said interrogations are difficult, and videotapes reflect that. "Sometimes the first 15 minutes of the tape you're talking about fishing, just to get someone to start talking," he said. Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood is a proponent of videotaping interrogations. His department has used the technology for 1 1/2 years in major cases. He said it is a useful backup in case a suspect alleges wrongdoing or police brutality. "When you're in an interrogation room, you can't physically harm or threaten or coerce. You don't violate this guy's rights," Chitwood said. "Detectives in any case may think they have protected those rights but a judge may have a different opinion." James Bushell, one of Wood's defense attorneys, said a videotaped interrogation has worked both for and against him in front of a judge. In the Wood case, the tape showed state police detectives Lance McCleish and Scott Harakles remove a table separating them from Wood, then moving their chairs next to him. Harakles tapped Wood's shoulder, and both used profanity. As they raised their voices and leaned in close, Wood whimpered and spoke in a high-pitched voice. "If there had not been a videotape, I'm not sure we would've succeeded and gotten that decision," Bushell said. Bushell was unsuccessful in his attempt to use a videotape of a Portland police interrogation to help overturn the conviction of Timothy Mooney, a homeless man who was charged with killing his girlfriend in Portland in 1998 by smashing her head with a concrete block. The video didn't convince the judge that Mooney was too intoxicated to make voluntary statements to police during a six-hour interrogation. "In the videotape, he didn't seem intoxicated. He seemed a little off balance, but he seemed normal. I lost that suppression motion," Bushell said. Defense lawyer Neale Duffet says the key to making statements stick in court is proper police tactics, but a video helps. "It's all common sense. They should be videotaped. It's good to have," he said. Staff Writer Grace Murphy can be contacted at 282-8228 or at: gmurphy@pressherald.com