Opinion ID: 811594
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Livers Confesses, Then Recants

Text: On April 17, 2006, Livers spoke to Investigators Schenck and Lambert and agreed to take a polygraph examination to “clear [his] name” of suspicion. On April 25, Investigators Schenck and Lambert drove Livers from his home to the Cass County Law Enforcement Center. They escorted Livers into a small, windowless room Livers described as uncomfortably cold. There is no indication Livers consulted with an attorney or other advisor during any of the April 25 interrogations. Though Livers told the investigators he had not eaten that day, he was not offered 2 Livers’ IQ measures in the bottom 1-2% of the adult population. He attended special education classes in school. -7- food until 7:24 p.m., more than ten hours after he arrived at the Law Enforcement Center. Livers’ first interview of the day began around 9:00 A.M. During this interview, Investigators Schenck and Lambert told Livers he could leave, but Livers agreed to stay and take a polygraph examination. Livers now asserts he did not understand he could leave or choose not to take the polygraph examination.3 After Livers had been speaking with Investigators Lambert and Schenck for nearly two hours, NSP Investigator Charles O’Callaghan entered the room and told Livers to put his keys and cell phone on a table. Investigator O’Callaghan took Livers to another room, advised Livers of his rights under Miranda, and administered a polygraph examination in which he questioned Livers about the murder of Wayne Stock. Livers repeatedly denied involvement. After the examination, Investigator O’Callaghan left the room. When Investigator O’Callaghan returned, he accused Livers of murdering the Stocks, claiming the polygraph left “no doubt” Livers had done so. A polygraph expert later testified the examination’s design and implementation were so flawed that it could not reliably indicate whether Livers was being truthful. After Investigator O’Callaghan left the room for a second time, Investigators Schenck and Lambert entered and resumed questioning Livers. They told Livers his polygraph results were “off the charts,” repeatedly accused Livers of murdering the Stocks, and discounted Livers’ protestations of innocence, sometimes with a loud voice. For example, Investigator Lambert told Livers, “You’re full of s[---]. You did 3 A forensic psychologist who reviewed the interviews and other materials concerning Livers concluded “it is not entirely clear to what degree Mr. Livers understood his Miranda [v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1996),] warning.” (underline added). -8- too [kill the Stocks].” They repeatedly told Livers they would help him if he confessed, and suggested his execution if he did not. Investigator Schenck said: If you don’t admit to me exactly what you’ve done, I’m going to walk out that door and I am going to do my level best to hang you’re a[--] from the highest tree. . . . I will go after the death penalty. I’ll push and I’ll push and I’ll push and I will do everything I have to, to make sure you go down hard for this. Investigator Lambert told Livers he could not leave, saying, “Do you think you are going to get on a bus and you are going to leave? You are going to leave us? No, you’re not.” Later, but still before Livers confessed, Livers said he wanted to go home, but believed he could not do so. The investigators did not contradict this statement. Livers denied involvement in the murders more than eighty times before he began to agree with the investigators’ accusations. At 3:28 P.M., approximately six and a half hours after Livers began speaking to the investigators, Livers began to confess he murdered the Stocks.4 Investigators Lambert and Schenck obtained the confession almost entirely through Livers’ responses to leading, yes-or-no questions, for example, supplying Livers with information about the physical evidence. Inv. Schenck: And [Sharmon Stock] was trying to get on the phone, wasn’t she? Livers: I guess. Inv. Schenck: Did she have the phone in her hand? Livers: Mmm, don’t remember. 4 The Cass appellants contend Livers confessed earlier, when he responded, “I didn’t do it by myself,” to the directive,“If you did it by yourself, then stand up and say so.” A jury could infer Livers meant by this that he did not commit the murders at all, especially in view of Livers’ other eighty denials. -9- Inv. Schenck: You don’t remember. But you got pretty close to Aunt Sharmon, didn’t you? Livers: Right, I guess, I don’t know. When Investigator Schenck asked an open-ended question, “What happened after you fired that first shot?” Livers did not respond, remaining silent for several moments before Investigator Schenck resumed asking leading questions. Many of Livers’ answers were “I don’t know,” “I guess,” or “I’m not sure.” Sampson’s name entered the confession when Investigator Schenck suggested Livers must have received the keys to Will’s car from someone who had access to them. Livers responded that Sampson gave him the keys. Livers then agreed with Investigator Schenck’s suggestion Sampson provided the shotgun and ammunition. A forensic psychologist who viewed the DVDs of Livers’ interrogation concluded some of Livers’ behavior during the interrogations may have indicated his mental impairment. For example, when Livers was told to “stand up” (confess) if he were a man, he literally stood up from his chair. In addition, Livers told Investigators Lambert and Schenk he was “dumb as a brick.” Investigator Schenck later admitted Livers “appeared to be having difficulty understanding some of the questions” and “appeared to be a person who would understand simpler questioning.” The next day, April 26, Investigators Lambert and Schenck interrogated Livers again. Investigator Schenck later testified, “at this point Mr. Livers ha[d] been arrested and there[ was] no doubt that he[ was] in custody.” The investigators used leading questions to get Livers to revise his confession to place Sampson in the Stocks’ house during the murders. Livers previously had claimed Sampson did not enter the Stocks’ house, which conflicted with the blood splatter pattern indicating two assailants. Livers consented to another polygraph, but then told Investigator O’Callaghan, “I was never on the scene. I don’t know if [Sampson] is the actual person involved in this. I’ve been just making things up to satisfy you guys -10- and . . . basically, fitting an answer to what you guys have been asking.” Both Livers’ confession and his recantation were video recorded.5 Cass County Attorney Nathan Cox approved murder charges against Livers and Sampson after learning Livers had confessed and implicated Sampson.