Ella Roger Case Summary

Case or Issue Overview A woman’s body was discovered floating in the pool located in the apartment building she owned and lived in. Police questioned all of the current tenants. All of them were cleared of suspicion except for Ella Rogers, a 23-year-old publicist. After further investigation, police found some evidence that contradicted her alibi. During the re-interview process, Ella claimed that the reason she lied at the first interview was due to the fact that she was having an affair with one of her clients and did not want this to be found out. However, the client that she reported having an affair with denied everything. Beyond that, on the victim’s computer, police did find numerous threatening emails that were sent from Ella. As a result, Ella was arrested and interrogated. At the end of the interrogation, she confessed to murdering the victim. Nevertheless, Ella later asserted that she did not commit the murder and she made a false confession because of the coercion. Records show that the interrogation almost lasted for 18 hours. Besides, she was neither allowed to rest nor given any food.

Ella Roger’s confession was involuntary and the veracity of her

First of all, the confession should not be admissible on the court. According to R. v. Oickle (2000) – “a confession will not be admissible if it is made under circumstances that raise a reasonable doubt as to voluntariness”. In this case, Ella Rogers were obviously being interrogated under a high stress environment in a coercive manner. Her voluntariness can be questioned due to the fact that the interrogation almost lasted for 18 hours and she was not allowed to either rest or eat. On the other hand, as her voluntariness in signing the confession is highly doubtful, the veracity of the confession is also hugely