STJ nullifies confession after expert says, in podcast, that he induced defendant to speak

The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) annulled the confession given by a woman accused of having killed her partner after one of the experts, who worked on the investigation of the crime, participated in a podcast and gave details of the case, which has not yet been tried. According to the interview given by the police officer to a YouTube channel, she had induced the defendant to confess to having committed the crime.

The decision to annul the confession came after the defense of Adriana Pereira Siqueira, accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death in 2018 and then setting the body on fire, filed a habeas corpus petition in court alleging a violation of her right to remain silent, after the police officer, in an interview with the podcast, confessed to having coerced her into confessing.

In March 2022, Telma Rocha and Leandro Lopes, experts from the São Paulo Homicide and Personal Protection Department (DHPP), participated in a podcast broadcast on a YouTube channel. On that occasion, the agents gave details of the crime involving Adriana, in which they participated in the investigation.

In a report to the podcast, Telma detailed how she convinced Adriana to confess to the crime, without previously informing her of her right to remain silent, a right that belongs to every accused person.

Thus, indirectly, the expert revealed during the interview that she had coerced the accused into confessing to the crime. At the time, the authorities reached Adriana after the victim’s car was found burned with his body inside.

With the evidence presented by Adriana’s defense, in light of the statements given by the expert, the defendant’s representatives filed a habeas corpus petition alleging violation of the accused’s right to remain silent.

As provided for in the Brazilian Federal Constitution: “the prisoner will be informed of his rights, including the right to remain silent, and will be assured of the assistance of his family and a lawyer”, which Adriana’s defense claims before the Court did not happen.

Furthermore, the accused’s house was also allegedly searched by experts after the crime due to the expert’s conversation with the defendant, where the alleged confession took place.

The confession

At the time of the crime, authorities arrived at Adriana’s house after her then-boyfriend’s car was found burned with his body inside. The boyfriend’s family, after being informed of his death, reportedly told the police that the last time he was seen he was on his way to Adriana’s house. When they arrived at the residence, the police team came across Adriana.

– “I saw blood under her fingernail. Reasonable. Then I looked, I moved away from her a little and started looking at her clothes. Then she had another blood stain on her jeans.”, Telma began when detailing the case to the podcast she was participating in as an interviewee.

According to the expert’s report, she advised the accused that they were just talking and that Adriana should not respond while she was speaking, but rather just “think about the answer”.

— “I kept her going a bit… telling her ‘sometimes we want to take action, but in the heat of the moment we take another action and that’s not planned’. I told her that she wasn’t going to leave there beaten up, handcuffed, or in the back of a police car. And she said: ‘It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me!’. I said calm down, let me finish talking”, Telma continues during the interview.

— “And then we gave it a little more push. […] I said: ‘But confessing now to the police authorities will bring you a benefit’, says the expert.

— “And then she said: it was me!”, concludes Thelma.

According to the decision of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), at the time of the crime, Adriana was not warned of her right to remain silent and was even pressured to confess to the crime.

The decision

After the expert’s interview on the podcast, Adriana’s defense filed a habeas corpus petition seeking to have the case annulled. The claim was that the defendant was coerced, and that her confession was not spontaneous and free, thus violating her right to remain silent.

The request was not accepted, but Judge Daniela Teixeira, of the STJ, granted an order to annul the extrajudicial interrogation, which took place between the defendant and the expert, used at the time to incriminate her.

“I find the defendant’s extrajudicial confession and the house search carried out at the patient’s home to be null and void, since it was granted without knowledge of her rights and without voluntariness, so I declare such evidence to be illicit,” states the decision handed down by the judge.

According to the judge, the conduct of the police officers during the interview given to the podcast was extremely reprehensible:

“I also find that the conduct of Civil Police Officers Telma Rocha and Leandro Lopes is extremely reprehensible for exposing a case that has not been judged in the media, using inappropriate language, in an environment with alcoholic beverages and violating the duty of impartiality required of public servants, which is why I order that an official letter be sent to the competent bodies to investigate the functional conduct of said public servants,” the minister stated in the decision.

When asked about the conduct of the agents, the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat reported that Thelma and Leandro are already being investigated through an administrative procedure instituted by the Internal Affairs Department, which is being processed confidentially, according to the institution’s Organic Law.

THE CNN also sought contact with Thelma. According to her, the defendant had confessed the crime to the police authorities, not to her, and that at the DHPP she had indeed read her rights.

“I believe there is a lot of confusion. I am numb to this situation. I have been working with homicides for 30 years. The defendant has not confessed to me. I am perplexed and still do not understand,” said the expert when contacted.

The crime

Adriana Pereira Siqueira, in the early hours of April 21, 2018, stabbed her partner to death after tying him up after discovering he was cheating on her. The day after the crime, the accused set fire to her boyfriend’s car, with his body inside, and returned home as usual. At the time, she lived in São Bernardo do Campo, in the greater ABC region of São Paulo.

According to the criminal proceedings in the case, her partner’s betrayal was the main motivation for the crime. She was subsequently arrested in flagrante delicto and her arrest was later converted to preventive detention.

At the time, Adriana allegedly told the authorities that she had acted in self-defense after her partner arrived at her house drunk and angry. At the time, an argument allegedly began between them and then escalated into aggression. According to the defendant, her partner then tried to grab a knife, which she then took. It was then that she stabbed the victim with the knife.

In her statement to the police, the sister of Adriana’s ex-partner claimed that the couple argued frequently. In one of the fights that occurred during their relationship, which lasted approximately 4 years, the accused had also previously tried to run over the victim, according to her sister.

In 2019, the Court of Justice of São Paulo granted provisional release to Adriana. She is currently awaiting trial by jury.

This content was originally published in STJ nullifies confession after expert says, in podcast, that he induced defendant to speak on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil