I really wanted to like this one. I really did. I found the whole case very fascinating, and loved the Netflix show. However, I found this book to be very dry. I just couldn't get into the writing style or the formatting. I ended up DFNing this book.

Very interesting read to say the least. I didn't feel like i got any new information on the Dassey case, but it did really shed light on false confessions in general. I would recommend to anyone that isn't sure what a false confession looks like or how it's even possible, they will be enlightened for sure.

Uses the example of a real-life case that the author was not involved in to create a book dealing with the place of confessions as evidence in convictions.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

I think everyone has watched or heard of the series "Making a Murderer" that Netflix released in 2015. Steven Avery had been released from prison after severing quite a bit of time for a crime that he supposedly didn't commit. He was waiting for a big payday from the county and city that he was previously arrested in.
Then on October 31, 2005, Teresa Halbach went out to his families salvage yard to take some photos of a vehicle to list in the "Auto Trader" and was never seen from again. We all know what supposedly happened to her but who was the real killer?
I believe there are clans like the Avery's in a lot of rural towns and on the outskirts of the cities. They all pretty much stay to themselves and they have their share of troubles, domestic violence, etc. They are normally on government assistance, undereducated and when something happens the other folks around tend to point blame their way. They barely skate by financially, but just because of their standing in the community trouble finds them or they find trouble it's hard to say.
That said, what happened to Brendan Dassy who happened to be the nephew of Steven Avery is a complete miscarriage of justice. I admit I was losing my mind when I first starting reading this book, I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish it because of the role-playing and false promises that started with the first interviewers O'Neill and Baldwin who interviewed him from the back seat of a patrol car after they apprehended him while getting off the school bus to walk home. Then on to Wiegert and Fassbender's unlawful interrogation of young Dassy at his high school. I found myself getting so keyed up that I would have probably admitted to being involved. They badgered him for hours and made promises that they had no intention of keeping. You are not allowed to interrogate a minor without a parent present at any time. That is the fastest way to get a case thrown out in my jurisdiction, you can not even ask them a question in any official capacity. But these guys just kept at him until I wanted to toss my Kindle out the window, I think if they accused him of being Spiderman he would have agreed to it.
I could go on and on about what all was wrong with what they did to this young man. He may not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer but he was definitely trying to please these investigators. They definitely used that to their advantage. Which is the lowest of the lot, the poor boy didn't have a chance.
I was appalled that they kept asking him if he wanted a soda or something to eat during while dogpiling him. I was even more outraged when I read why they kept doing that, it's unbelievable. They have his mother come to the station and he confesses that he had indeed done the most horrific acts that can be done to a woman alongside his uncle Steve. I'll be damned if they didn't offer her sandwich when she's leaving the station. ARG!!! Her answer is no thank you, I've lost my appetite. I could just picture one of those guys sputtering his offer to her while one of his cheeks are bulging out like hamsters crammed full of half of a ham sandwich.
I have to admit I've never heard of some of these tactics that this writer brings forth. I've set in many interviews I've dealt with adults never young people, we had a card that we had to pull out and read from when issuing the Miranda Warning even if we knew it by heart. It's called covering all the bases.
This is a great read for anyone who is interested in the legal process, I hope that the changes that the author writes about will help stop a lot of these false confessions. It may be too late to help some but let's hope that in the future these "get this case closed" group of investigators and prosecutors curb that attitude. It's so unfair, if you are poor, uneducated then oh, well, let's get you a public defender who has a caseload of 500 and see when he can fit you into his schedule!!! I personally do not see how those investigator's sleep at night. I couldn't sleep well after I read this book. I had to wait until I could regroup to write this review without giving too much away.
Disclosure: I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-galley in exchange for my honest opinion, the opinions expressed above are my own.

Anatomy of a False Confession by Michael Cicchini

I must first say that I believe that Brendens confession was coerced by the detectives and feel that both he and Steven are innocent based on the facts that were given as well a new evidence that has come forth from Steven Avery’s new lawyer. This book gives us an idea of how easy it is to get someone to falsely confess. Especially a juvenile who only wants to go home. This book has a lot of great facts included that show you that it can be done and how it is done. I think everyone should read this book to get an idea of what to look for especially if you or your child is ever questioned by the police. I loved the way this book was written with little emotion and only the evidence from research given. This author answers questions 5at a lot of people have brought up such as why would Dassey talk to the police? Why did Dassey confess and how did he know the details of the murder? Actually, the police really have no idea what actually happened to Teresa. The human bones found were found with cut marks yet the prosecution never brought that up. They said she was raped but there was no evidence of that. All of these things were brought up to and by Brendan. This will certainly make you think about this case if you have not already.

So much has been written about this case, I was hoping for a fresh take on it. There is some very interesting information, especially about how police officers manipulate suspects into false confessions. It is sad to see that some just want a confession and the truth doesn’t matter. The writing can sometimes get confusing and hard to follow. But i was interested in the subject enough to follow it through. This book helps solidify the fact the Brendan Dassey was wrongly convicted.

The focus of the book is on false confessions, how they happen, and especially the false confession of Brendan Dassey. Going back into the whole “Making A Murderer” thing, this book goes into the part of Brendan Dassey’s confession and how so many people have been coerced into confessing falsely. 

It sometimes happens when the detectives get on a tangent and start pushing a theory. Particularly when a witness is young, and a bit lower in IQ perhaps, it can happen even more easily under those circumstances. These two interrogators (Wiegert & Fassbender), happened to believe that they were super lie detectors, when in fact they were no more able than anyone else at telling when someone was being false with them. But they liked to think it of themselves anyway and went around bragging about it, especially to people that they were interviewing.

They questioned Dassey after Halbach’s death and after hearing from another juvenile that he’d been losing weight and crying a lot, without even verifying it with an adult to see if it were true, they decided this was their big break. They began finding him and questioning him again, at school and at his home and isolating him to pressure him with pressure tactics and lies until they found that they could get him to talk. Then they picked him up and took him in and read him his Miranda rights, although it was a weird garbled version of it, spoken very fast, intended to get him to waive it.

That was followed by intense questioning that was on video and is purported to be Dassey’s false confession dragged out of him after being fed their idea of what happened at the time of the crime taking place, as Brendan had previously denied taking part. They had spent time minimally getting to know Brendan and making him feel that if he told them the truth about it, that they would “go to bat” for him when it came time for him to go to court, and that everything would be all right. They even let him believe that he would be allowed to go back to school when he finished telling them, which was plainly a lie since he was confessing to taking part in rape and murder. They were just taking advantage of him being a juvenile and not a very sophisticated one at that, and very shy.

They took it a bit at a time until they’d gotten him to say just what they wanted. When he got things wrong, they’d accuse him of lying and make him start that part over, admonishing him to be “honest” with them or they wouldn’t help him. They kept offering him food and drinks, but the subject matter was pretty gruesome much of the time, as they fed him details, but tried to make it look like it came from him, for obvious reasons. After they were finished, they finally told him he didn’t get to go home after all. He couldn’t figure out why they weren’t keeping their end of the bargain. His confession was the only evidence against him.

This book is not overly long, it's an informative look at false confessions and how the Miranda and interrogation can be manipulated when used with these types of juveniles and others.  My thanks for the advance electronic copy that was provided by Netgalley, author Michael D. Cicchini, and the publisher for my fair review.

Rowman & Littlefield, 248 pages
Pub: Oct 27th, 2018

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