Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: retraction of a confession

Thank you for your posted inquiry.

Although you can retract a confession, typically any confession that was a violation of your miranda rights or the 6th amendment is the subject for a motion to suppress. In your case, however, the confession was obtained by a private company, not a government agent or official in custodial interrogation.

If you retract a confession after you've seen that charges are filed, that can be used against you, as evidence that you now are retracting to avoid prosecution.

I hope that this information helps, but if you have other questions, need more information, or feel that you need legal representation, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. I�m happy to help in any way that I can.

Re: retraction of a confession

Normally the term "confession" applies to statements a suspect makes to police or other law enforcement agents. It sounds like you were speaking to a fellow employee at your place of business, in which case your statement is more properly called an "admission."

When you repeated the statement to the detective it probably became a confession. This raises the question of how you can say you didn't think it was a criminal issue. Detectives don't investigate "company rules" or "moral issues"; they investigate crimes.

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Wolf are correct that confessions can be challenged -- occasionally successfully -- where they result from coercion. But this is because the law wants to discourage police from abusing their power. The rules that apply to police really aren't applicable to private employees unless they are acting under police direction.

You cannot "retract" your statement to the loss prevention worker in the sense of erasing it from the record. You said it, people know you said it, and it is a fact you now have to live with. If you go to trial, the statement will likely be used against you. While you might be able to challenge the admissibility of your statement to the detective (and nothing you have said suggests that you would succeed), your admission to the loss prevention worker would remain a problem for you.

If you falsely admitted to something and had a good explanation to offer as to why you would do such a thing, you could take your chances with a jury. As it is, though, it sounds like you really did what you are accused of and trying to tell the jury a story would simply add perjury to whatever other crimes yo may already have committed.

Your public defender probably knows what he is talking about here. If you want, you can pay another attorney to give you a second opinion. But the bottom line is that your admission, as they say, can and will be sued against you in a court of law if you go to trial.

Re: retraction of a confession

Recanting a confession is nearly impossible. The only procedure that is effective is to get a court order suppressing the confession. This procedure is seldom successful.

Re: retraction of a confession

There maybe ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE VOLUNTARINESS of the confession. Discuss that with your PD or give us a call. LARRY WOLF 310 277 1707