Court heard arguments for and against a defence application to introduce testimony from an expert witness at the Douglas Hales murder trial Tuesday afternoon.
Hales in on trial for first-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Daleen Bosse of Onion Lake Cree Nation who was last seen in May 2004.
Defence lawyer Bob Hrycan wanted to introduce testimony from Mark Patry – a behavioural psychologist who is an expert in false police confessions.
Crown prosecutor Matt Miazga argued Patry’s theories are highly controversial and unproven scientifically.
At issue is an alleged murder confession Hales gave to Saskatoon police on August 10, 2008.
In rejecting the defence application, Justice Albright ruled although Patry may be an expert, there is nothing he could add to interpretations of the video taped alleged confession that couldn’t be done by both counsels or the judge himself.
Earlier in the day, Patry told the court high level undercover police interrogation techniques, like the ones used in the Mr. Big RCMP sting operation, can lead to false confessions.
However, under cross-examination from Miazga, he was unable to say how often this occurs or what the error rate is.