Canada - 'Mr. Big' sting confessions get stricter rules from Supreme Court

[S.J.B.]

'Mr. Big' sting confessions get stricter rules from Supreme Court
CBC
July 31st, 2014

The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a lower court ruling that ordered a new trial for a Newfoundland murder suspect, in a decision that puts stricter rules on how police obtain confessions through "Mr. Big" sting operations, but does not forbid the practice.

The justices ruled that so-called Mr. Big stings like the one that convicted Nelson Hart pose major problems — namely, that they tend to produce unreliable confessions and risk becoming abusive.

Mr. Big stings are controversial operations in which undercover officers pose as criminals to draw confessions from suspects.

Hart was convicted in 2007 in Newfoundland of two counts of murder in the drowning deaths of his twin three-year-old daughters based largely on his confession to undercover officers.

In 2012, a majority of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador's Court of Appeal overturned Hart's conviction, questioning the reliability of his confession to undercover officers posing as members of the mob. The Crown appealed to the Supreme Court.

Read the full story here.

Not exactly drug-related, but I thought it was relevant since it is about our top court restricting undercover police operations.

 

[FunctionalOlfactio]

While the details of the technique vary from case to case, the method is for an undercover police unit to pose as members of a fictitious gang into which the suspect is inducted. The suspect is invited to participate in a series of escalating criminal activities (all of which are faked by the police), including robberies, control of prostitution, and standing guard during gang's activities. In addition, the "gang members" build a personal relationship with the suspect, through drinking together and other social activities. The goal is to win the confidence of the suspect. Eventually, the suspect is told that the police have a renewed interest in the original crime, and that the suspect needs to give the gang further details. The suspect is told that the boss (the so-called "Mr. Big") may have the ability to influence that police investigation, but only if the person reveals what, if any, knowledge they have of the crime being investigated. They are also told that if they aren't completely truthful about their knowledge the gang may not be willing to continue to work with him, as he may be a liability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Big_(police_procedure)

So this type of sting could happen online... Isn't this part of the theory about the Ross Ulbricht situation. The government used illegal surveillance and determined whom he was. They framed him as a murder using the illegally obtained information combined with Mr. Bigish tactics (the redandwhite/friendlychemist entrapment). Then they used parallel construction as the method of concealing the source of the identification information, obtained using illegal surveillance techniques, enabling the entrapment. All of this is (supposedly) justified by the fact he is a murder, but no one was actually murdered.