The Empire Page

Freddie Peacock, who was wrongfully convicted of rape 33 years ago, was finally exonerated through DNA testing in Rochester on February 4. His case is remarkable – and it should serve as a call for critical reforms in our state’s criminal justice system.

Peacock, 60, was convicted of rape in December 1976. He has serious mental illness and told the officers interrogating him about recent hospitalizations, but they continued to interrogate him until he allegedly confessed to the crime. He was not able to give the interrogating officers any details about where, when or how the crime happened. He was arrested, convicted and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and released on parole in 1982. Because he thought he would never be able to clear his name if he was released from state supervision, he tried to remain on parole. For the last 28 years since he left prison, he has fought to prove his innocence even though he was no longer incarcerated.

Of the 250 DNA exonerations nationwide, nobody has spent this many years outside of prison fighting to prove his innocence. The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office quickly agreed to DNA testing in the case and worked with the Innocence Project to throw out Peacock’s conviction once DNA test results were obtained.

Freddie Peacock’s long, hard struggle for the truth to come out is finally over. Now we need to look at what the case can tell us about our criminal justice system.

In the last several years, New York has had more DNA exonerations of people who were convicted based on false confessions than any other state in the country. Since 2002, 10 people in New York, including Peacock, were exonerated through DNA testing after false confessions or admissions led to their wrongful convictions. This accounts for 33% of all DNA exonerations nationwide since 2002 for convictions that involved false confessions or admissions.

Decades of research show that recording interrogations electronically can help prevent false confessions by creating a record of exactly what happens when police are questioning suspects. Nationwide, 500 jurisdictions now record interrogations in the most serious cases, and 17 states require such recording either through state laws or high court rulings. Approximately 18 local law enforcement agencies in New York State record at least some interrogations, and pilot programs are underway for several New York counties to begin recording interrogations. Monroe County, where Peacock was wrongfully convicted, is one of the counties recording some police interrogations through this program.

While it’s encouraging that Monroe County and others are starting to record some interrogations, this shouldn’t be a piecemeal approach with a handful of counties implementing parts of a critical reform on their own. For years, bills have languished in Albany that would require interrogations to be recorded statewide. It’s time for the State Legislature and the Governor to take action. If they don’t, the state’s high court should mandate recording of interrogations.  We owe at least that much to Freddie Peacock.

Stephen Saloom is Policy Director at the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. For more information, go to www.innocenceproject.org.