Because of the extensive media coverage of the fires and Baye’s subsequent arrest, the defense maintains he cannot get a fair trial in Hampshire County
Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney is expected to decide whether police used appropriate measures to extract a confession from Northampton arson suspect Anthony Baye.NORTHAMPTON - It’s now up to a judge to decide if police overstepped their bounds when they extracted a confession from Anthony P. Baye eight days after a string of fires terrorized Northampton.
Baye, 26, faces more than 40 charges in connection with 15 fires police say were deliberately set on the night of Dec. 27, 2009. One blaze at 17 Fair Street claimed the lives of Paul Yeskie, 81, and Paul Yeskie, Jr., 39, a father and son whose bodies were found by a window through which they were apparently trying to escape. Baye is charged with two counts of first degree murder as a result of their deaths.
Judge Constance Sweeney, who has been specially appointed to hear Baye’s case, heard testimony Wednesday from Alan Hirsch, a lawyer and professor at Williams College who specializes in interrogations and coerced confessions. Last month, Sweeney watched some ten hours of video over a three-day span showing two state police investigators interviewing Baye on Jan. 4, 2010. During that interrogation, Baye admits he set some of the fires. He was arrested immediately afterwards. Defense lawyers David P. Hoose and Thomas Lesser have moved to exclude evidence from the interview at trial, maintaining that the troopers denied Baye his right to a lawyer.
Hirsch told Sweeney that the study of false confessions has “exploded” over the last 20 years as DNA testing has identified inmates falsely convicted of crimes. According to Hirsch, a quarter of those innocent defendants had confessed to crimes they didn’t commit. Hirsch’s studies focus on whether or not interrogation techniques used by police are responsible for the false confessions.
Under questioning by Lesser, Hirsch cited a text book titled “Criminal Interrogations and Confessions” that is used by police. Among the techniques spelled out in the book, Hirsch said, are “confrontation” and “minimization.” “Confrontation” entails police telling a suspect they have indisputable evidence of his or her guilt. In “minimization,” police assure suspects that their actions were accidents or mistakes and that they can expect leniency if they admit to the crimes.
Troopers Michael Mazza and Paul Zipper used both techniques in the Jan. 4 interview with Baye, Hirsch said. Although he did not render an opinion as to whether Baye’s confession was reliable, Hirsch told the judge that those techniques sometimes result in false confessions.
In his closing statement, Hoose argued that his client was effectively in custody during the interview and should have been allowed to have a lawyer when he asked for one. Mazza assured Baye he was not under arrest and told him he would be better served by continuing to talk to police. Hoose said it is disingenuous for the prosecution to maintain that Baye was free to leave at any time.
“He was told, ‘You’re responsible for the most serious crime spree in the history of Northampton,’” he said. “What person would think, ‘I can just go now’?”
Noting that the interview turned confrontational, Hoose asserted that Baye’s admissions were not voluntary.
“Every time he tried to say ‘I didn’t do it,’ he was cut off and told, ‘You did,’” Hoose said.
Vottero, however, said Baye was not formally under arrest during the interview and that his freedom of movement was not restricted as if he were. Moreover, he said, Baye still insists he didn’t set some of the fires, despite police assertions to the contrary.
“The interview in its totality was good police investigation,” Vottero said. “It was a fair interview.”
In addition to objecting to the Jan. 4 interview, the defense claims police lacked probably cause to stop Baye on the night of the fires. Officers questioned Baye twice in two different locations that rainy night, each time observing that his breath smelled of alcohol and his clothes were wet, even though he was in his car. Sweeney will decide whether to exclude evidence from those stops as well.
Because of the extensive media coverage of the fires and Baye’s subsequent arrest, the defense maintains he cannot get a fair trial in Hampshire County. On Wednesday, Sweeney granted Baye’s request to impanel a jury in Hampden County and transport its members to Northampton for the trial, which is set to begin on Sept. 26. The judge also scheduled a pretrial hearing for Aug. 29.