Donovan Allen

During 14-hour overnight interrogation, defendant stated “I probably did it” after being given “voice stress tests” and told he had failed. In tape-recorded statement, stated that he choked victim with telephone cord, hit her with rifle twice until stock shattered.  He stated that he washed blood off from gun in shower.

But – medical examiner testified that victim was struck in head four times before being strangled and no blood was found in shower.

Post-conviction expert stated that the confession contained “many of the indicia of unreliability that are commonly seen in false confessions. There are errors in the confession narrative (facts which do not ‘fit’ the objectively knowable evidence), false fed facts (facts which support an early police theory of the case which was not borne out by the evidence), and there is a lack of corroboration (no proceeds of the robbery, no metal cash box, no bloody clothes).”