TORONTO – Luka Magnotta has returned to Montreal and pled not guilty to charges of first-degree murder for the killing and dismemberment of Concordia University student Jun Lin.
Several body parts were mailed to various destinations, including two Vancouver schools and the Conservatives’ headquarters. The police are shifting their attention to locating the head, the final piece of the body parts murder.
Global News spoke with former homicide investigator and CEO of private investigative training firm Investigative Solutions Network Dave Perry about the interview process and how it may play out for Magnotta.
Global News: What are the most common interrogation techniques?
Dave Perry: Quite frankly, they shouldn’t be interrogating this gentleman or anybody else. A lot of people have the preconception that in policing in Canada we interrogate people. I’m not saying that some tactics that cross into the interrogation area don’t occur.
Investigators always go after the confession because the theory in law is: the most significant evidence (even though DNA is extraordinary) is to hear the truth from the accused’s mouth and their own words. I would call it an interview not an interrogation, I would spend a lot of time talking to Magnotta and trying to build some sort of rapport with him.
Global News: How cooperative will Magnotta be in the interview process?
Dave Perry: I’m gonna suspect that Magnotta is going to cooperate on some level. Some of the factors for someone becoming cooperative include the overwhelming evidence against him – the fact that he was a fugitive on the run. My experience has always been that those are the ones who are most likely to talk to you.
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Global News: The Reid Technique is used in some instances to pry a confession. Interrogators will exaggerate or draw on deceiving evidence to nudge the suspect into talking. Why is this method both classic and controversial?
What I did as a homicide investigator was to use a rapport-based system. We spend a lot of time talking to the individual, trying to find some common ground and develop some kind of bond and get the person to cooperate.
Global News: How likely is it that Magnotta’s interviewers will use a rapport-based method?
Dave Perry: It differs from one police service to the next; we are all governed by the same sections in the Charter of Rights. But police officers from various parts of the country take a little bit of liberty with those sections and for good reason; we have a very tough job. You have to go in and get the final piece of evidence, the confession, but we also have to very mindful.
I hope they’re hand-selecting the individuals to interview Magnotta and they go in there with a rapport-based system and that perhaps they’re strategizing with criminal profilers and forensic psychiatrists to line up personalities of the interviewers with the personality of the individual.
Global News: What will the interviewers capitalize on to elicit a confession from Magnotta?
Somebody like Magnotta who is in my opinion is a narcissist and who has psychopathic tendencies, he’s somebody that you’re going to have to manage quite carefully. You’re going to have to stroke his ego and you’re going to have to fuel some of that need, by the language that you use and the manner in which you treat him.
Narcissism doesn’t necessarily lend itself to a confession but it could. I find the real value is the fact that he wasn’t an unknown and suddenly identified and arrested. The mere fact he waived his right to extradition is a significant piece.
Global News: How important is a confession to the prosecution?
Dave Perry: Do the police need a confession from him? Probably not, but in a perfect world, to hand in the best case you can for prosecution, if you have overwhelming forensic evidence backed up by a properly-obtained confession that will withstand the charter challenges… that’s your best way to have a conviction.
Global News: How are a suspect’s social media tracks used in an interrogation?
Dave Perry: That depends on him, they may not have to. I’ve spoken to people like Magnotta. I’ve had a briefcase full of evidence to show them but when I’ve gone in and talked to them, maybe not immediately, but within a short period of time, they start to cooperate. I haven’t had to show the evidence.
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