Court Ignores Psychological Evidence In Concluding That Confession Was Voluntary

State v. Nelson, Minn.S.Ct., 10/26/2016.  Mr. Nelson, just barely eighteen, is serving a life without release sentence.  A jury convicted him of the murder of his father.  On appeal he argued that his confession was not voluntary.  Here's how Justice Chutich put the issue:

Nelson contends that his confessions were not voluntary and therefore the district court erred when it denied his motion to suppress them. He asserts, in particular, that his on-scene confession was involuntary because the interrogating officers led him to believe that they were not his adversaries and that confessing would benefit him. He also asserts that his youth, inexperience, and upbringing made him “particularly susceptible” to the officers’ manipulative interrogation techniques, in part because childhood abuse had conditioned him to acquiesce to male authority figures. 

A confession is involuntary only when a defendant's "will was overborne at the time he confessed."  State v. Farnsworth, 738 N.W.2d 364 (Minn. 2007).  The actions of the interrogators, together with the circumstances surrounding the confession must be "so coercive, so manipulative, so overpowering that [a defendant" was deprived of his ability to make an unconstrained and wholly autonomous decision to speak."  State v. Pilcher, 472 N.W.2d 327 (Minn. 1991).  Both sides presented expert testimony on the question of the voluntariness of Mr. Nelson's confession. Tellingly, Justice Chutich never mentions this testimony - from either side - in concluding that Mr. Nelson's will had not been overborne.

Mr. Nelson committed this offense one week past his 18th birthday. He argued that psychologically and socially he was still a juvenile and thus should benefit from Miller v. Alabama's rule that a mandatory life sentence without release is unconstitutional.  Justice Chutich ducks this claim by pointing out that he had not raised it in the district court.