Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1989, Page 9
were quite willing to accept any formulation that promised to get Mr. Sawyer to abandon
the lack of memory issue as a barrier against acceptance of his guilt. The detectives
strongly supported this theory and Mr. Sawyer had no choice but to concur that this is what
must have happened --if he committed the crime.
The building blocks were now all in place, but the necessary mental bridge to belief in guilt
was not complete in Mr. Sawyer‟s mind. He still refused to fully accept the fact that he had
committed the crime. He deferred to the report of the polygraph but held out hope that the
other tests would prove to the police that he was innocent.
In order to complete Mr. Sawyer‟s thought reform, the detectives decided to lie to him
about the results of the laboratory tests. They told him that his fingerprints matched prints
found in the murder victim’s apartment and in her car. The police also lied to Mr. Sawyer
when they reported to him that his hair samples matched hairs found on the victim‟s body.
Deception is an accepted tactic in interrogation. A confession will not be suppressed merely
because the police overstate the significance of evidence or fabricate reports of evidence.
With receipt of this information, Mr. Sawyer‟s resistance to believing in his guilt collapsed.
He agreed that “all the evidence was in” and that he must have committed the crime.
During the next period of the interrogation the detectives concentrated on attempting to get
Mr. Sawyer to provide them with an accurate description of the crime. Although he now
believed in his guilt, belief could not provide him with details of events about which neither
he nor the police had any information. What followed was the development of a device that
would allow Mr. Sawyer to literally make up stories about how the crime occurred.
Mr. Sawyer had the verbal habit of describing aspects of his mental activity in terms of
pictures. For example, early in the interview, when asked to recall information about a
trivial point, he replied that he was trying to picture the scene about which they were
talking. He repeatedly used this metaphor to describe his thinking activity. (It was simply a
metaphor. He saw no images and meant only that he was thinking.)
Fastening on this language, one of the detectives suggested that Mr. Sawyer try to picture
the night of the crime and relate what he saw as he was asked questions. When he
commented that he didn‟t know if he was making up what he was saying, Mr. Sawyer was
told not to worry about that. Just report the pictures he saw. They would later go back and
determine what was true. The situation was now structured so that the detectives could ask
anything and Mr. Sawyer could freely fantasize answers.
During the course of this guessing game, Mr. Sawyer‟s story was continually shaped to
conform to the facts of the case as the detectives knew them. Elements of the story were
changed and points the detectives believed to be true were worked in. The leading and
shaping was so heavy-handed that the term outrageous is appropriate.
Somehow the promise that truth would be evaluated later was forgotten. The story Mr.
Sawyer invented became the substance of his confession. Inconsistencies with fact were
ignored. Mr. Sawyer‟s inability to contribute any new information was classified as an
attempt to be tricky and to deceive the police. What the police led him to say during the
fantasy session was later offered as proof of his guilt.
A few examples of the shaping of the false confession follow:
The police believed that the victim had been sexually assaulted. One detective thought he
saw a semen stain on her buttock. Since no one was sure which body cavity had been
entered, Mr. Sawyer‟s confession was shaped to include both vaginal and anal rape. The
false confession was specifically shaped to include ejaculation because the stain had been
were quite willing to accept any formulation that promised to get Mr. Sawyer to abandon
the lack of memory issue as a barrier against acceptance of his guilt. The detectives
strongly supported this theory and Mr. Sawyer had no choice but to concur that this is what
must have happened --if he committed the crime.
The building blocks were now all in place, but the necessary mental bridge to belief in guilt
was not complete in Mr. Sawyer‟s mind. He still refused to fully accept the fact that he had
committed the crime. He deferred to the report of the polygraph but held out hope that the
other tests would prove to the police that he was innocent.
In order to complete Mr. Sawyer‟s thought reform, the detectives decided to lie to him
about the results of the laboratory tests. They told him that his fingerprints matched prints
found in the murder victim’s apartment and in her car. The police also lied to Mr. Sawyer
when they reported to him that his hair samples matched hairs found on the victim‟s body.
Deception is an accepted tactic in interrogation. A confession will not be suppressed merely
because the police overstate the significance of evidence or fabricate reports of evidence.
With receipt of this information, Mr. Sawyer‟s resistance to believing in his guilt collapsed.
He agreed that “all the evidence was in” and that he must have committed the crime.
During the next period of the interrogation the detectives concentrated on attempting to get
Mr. Sawyer to provide them with an accurate description of the crime. Although he now
believed in his guilt, belief could not provide him with details of events about which neither
he nor the police had any information. What followed was the development of a device that
would allow Mr. Sawyer to literally make up stories about how the crime occurred.
Mr. Sawyer had the verbal habit of describing aspects of his mental activity in terms of
pictures. For example, early in the interview, when asked to recall information about a
trivial point, he replied that he was trying to picture the scene about which they were
talking. He repeatedly used this metaphor to describe his thinking activity. (It was simply a
metaphor. He saw no images and meant only that he was thinking.)
Fastening on this language, one of the detectives suggested that Mr. Sawyer try to picture
the night of the crime and relate what he saw as he was asked questions. When he
commented that he didn‟t know if he was making up what he was saying, Mr. Sawyer was
told not to worry about that. Just report the pictures he saw. They would later go back and
determine what was true. The situation was now structured so that the detectives could ask
anything and Mr. Sawyer could freely fantasize answers.
During the course of this guessing game, Mr. Sawyer‟s story was continually shaped to
conform to the facts of the case as the detectives knew them. Elements of the story were
changed and points the detectives believed to be true were worked in. The leading and
shaping was so heavy-handed that the term outrageous is appropriate.
Somehow the promise that truth would be evaluated later was forgotten. The story Mr.
Sawyer invented became the substance of his confession. Inconsistencies with fact were
ignored. Mr. Sawyer‟s inability to contribute any new information was classified as an
attempt to be tricky and to deceive the police. What the police led him to say during the
fantasy session was later offered as proof of his guilt.
A few examples of the shaping of the false confession follow:
The police believed that the victim had been sexually assaulted. One detective thought he
saw a semen stain on her buttock. Since no one was sure which body cavity had been
entered, Mr. Sawyer‟s confession was shaped to include both vaginal and anal rape. The
false confession was specifically shaped to include ejaculation because the stain had been
