California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Hoyt, 257 Cal.Rptr.3d 784, 456 P.3d 933, 8 Cal.5th 892 (Cal. 2020):
" In assessing allegedly coercive police tactics, "[t]he courts have prohibited only those psychological ploys which, under all the circumstances, are so coercive that they tend to produce a statement that is both involuntary and unreliable." " ( People v. Williams , supra , 49 Cal.4th at p. 436, 111 Cal.Rptr.3d 589, 233 P.3d 1000.) As the trial court found, there was nothing coercive about the detectives briefand accurateacknowledgment that the death penalty was a potential punishment for the crimes with which defendant was charged, and it does not appear that the mention of the death penalty prompted defendants confession. Nor is urging a defendant to tell his story before matters go any further an impermissible law enforcement tactic. ( Id. at pp. 438439, 443, 111 Cal.Rptr.3d 589, 233 P.3d 1000 ; Carrington , supra , 47 Cal.4th at p. 171, 97 Cal.Rptr.3d 117, 211 P.3d 617.)
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