The Harsh Reality of Truly True Crime
Criminal proceedings don’t always go as smoothly in court as they do on TV.
Google and other marketing tools love the niches they carve out with keywords. For my book Submerged to reach more people, I have to play by those rules, hence the URL for my website: SubmergedTrueCrime.com. But for those of us who have written about crime (for decades, in my case), we realize that many people attracted to this category do not want truly true crime stories. Instead, they’re looking for something based on real events or even pure fiction wrapped in the cloak of authenticity. These stories provide neat and easy answers with a satisfying resolution; namely, the bad guys get theirs in the end. As a layperson who has reported on many investigations, observed several criminal trials, and read the transcripts for many more, I can say that things in court don’t go as smoothly as they do on TV. If readers want to be exposed to truly True Crime, they need to be prepared for the following:
Courtroom victories are not always based on who’s right or wrong. Often, the best lawyer is the one who wins. In two different trials with different charges, I watched disgraced auto executive John DeLorean overcome damning evidence because his attorney was more nimble than the prosecution and had a winning strategy with jury selection.
Judges are more important in a trial than evidence. Proceedings that determine a verdict can be held outside the jurors’ presence when judges rule on the evidence they’re allowed to see or hear. Appellate courts may admit the judge made the wrong call but rarely demand a new trial.
Cases are won or lost with the accumulation of the most mundane details. Some TC readers and viewers find these things boring, but the attorney who has mastered the minutiae—times, distances, inconsistencies in witness testimony—is the victor.
The most honest witnesses do not always tell the truth. As research shows, the stress a witness feels while watching a violent act can interfere with later identification of the perpetrator. Worse yet, the “memory conformity effect” may get witnesses to adopt the distorted accounts of others if they’re repeatedly exposed to them.
The most notorious murder cases can result in the worst investigations and indictments. When law enforcement authorities order “all hands on deck” to gather evidence, crucial clues can elude officers not fully versed in the case. Later, pressure to solve the crime can lead to police misconduct like forced confessions.
Other than DNA genotypes, skilled expert witnesses can spin forensic evidence in multiple ways. A good portion of an autopsy report is open to interpretation. In the case of Rayna Rison, the most important findings were ignored by both the prosecution and the defense during Jason Tibbs’s trial.