A:
All three were dressed in Army uniforms.
Q:
Did you see any rank or insignia?
A:
No, etc.
b. Of the three types of statements, the combination form (narrative and
question and answer) is considered to be the best method since it offers the most
complete and descriptive account of what happened.
4.
Format of Statements and Confessions.
a. Confessed criminals, or any witnesses, victims, or complainants, may have
second thoughts about their confession or statement. They may deny their statement
or their guilt, or claim they were forced or induced to give testimony. They may
even say that they were forced to sign a blank piece of paper, and that their
confession or statement was written after they had signed the paper. You must deny
their claim and show that the statement or confession was freely and voluntarily
given.
b. To aid you with proper statements and confessions, and to guard against a
possible false accusation by the maker, the Department of the Army has developed
two forms for use by CID investigators.
(1) DA Form 3881 (Figures 3-1 and 3-2), previously discussed, is used
before obtaining a statement from persons accused or suspected of the offense.
(2) DA Form 2823 (Figure 3-3 and 3-4) is used to record all sworn
statements, not only from the suspect, but from witnesses, complainants, or
victims.
c. Body of Sworn Statement. The body of a statement or confession, whether
it be on DA Form 2823 or not, has no definite form.
The style may be either
question-and-answer or narrative.
If narrative, it should contain a complete
chronological account of anything connected with the crime.
The maker of the
statement may be permitted to write it or dictate it, or you may write it for the
maker being careful to keep within the limits of the maker's vocabulary, mode of
expression, and range of knowledge. There are certain advantages and disadvantages
in using each method. If the person is permitted to write or dictate a statement,
he may be apt to leave out important details about the elements of proof. He may
also wander from the details.
You will usually prefer to write statements
yourself, even though this is time consuming.
After the complete statement has
been prepared and is ready for signing, he should be given the chance to read it or
have it read to him. He should also have a chance to make changes. When these are
made, he should be asked to initial each one.
You should make one or more
intentional errors in statements you prepare for signature by a person suspected of
an offense.
When he corrects them, it tends to indicate that he read and
understood his statement; if he fails to correct the intentional errors, they
should be called to his attention and corrected. Each change should be numbered in
sequence and initialed by the maker in the space provided at the bottom of each
page of DA Form 2823.
MP1016
3-8
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