Deathbed confessions..no reason to lie..?

Question

Picture yourself near the end of your life, you have to confess something that happened in the past..you make a sealed affidavit years before whilst your still in mental good health with instructions for it not to be opened until some time after your death.
Under these circumstances why would anyone lie in their confession (with no repercussions to living family members)

I cant imagine why one would make a false statement in the said affadavit

Ok say a sworn affadavit is more accurate? Your very old, maybe you have a disease and know you dont have long..or just want to 'fess up' knowing that of course after your dead there will be no repercussions right?

Well based on everything I have read here, it does'nt seem likely a person making such a sworn affadavit thats sealed and instructed not to be read until after death, would benefit in any way (obviously) when they could have done in life...
what do you make of this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Haut

"in 1947, he became the public information officer for the 509th Atomic Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico. The base commander, Colonel William H. Blanchard, was a close personal friend."

Also it should be noted Walter Haut had a medical/mental evaluation before he started the affadavit and was in good health at the time of it.
Just FYI..

Answer 1

The "sealed affidavit" and the "deathbed confession" are two seperate things.

The affidavit was completed but the author had no concern for immediate or pending death.

However, a deathbed confession the statements are made with the actor truely believing they are about to die. Knowing one has nothing to lose by being honest makes the statement more credible than that of the former affidavit.

Best wishes.

Answer 2

In law there is an exception to the hearsay rule. Generally, a person cannot testify to what someonw else says, but a person can testify to what a victim said about who it was that killed him. The reasoning is that someone would not possibly lie about this - especially given the Christian history of the common law system and that lying is a sin that would endanger your mortal soul.

However, there is was a problem. In India, another former British colony, there was tribal fighting. Anytime one person died by violent means, which happened a lot at the time, they would blame the leaders of the rival tribe.

The problem is that people knew about the exception and they exploited it. In reference to your hypo, this could also be the case. If the confession only effects the dying person, then maybe they did not lie. However, there could be incentives to lie and if the person thought that everyone would think as you do, then he might try to exploit this.

For eg, a person could desire fame (see the Benet Ramsey guy) and confess to something to bring more fame. The person could try to exculpate someone from a crime that they commited.

It does seem unlikely that a statement totally against one's interest would be false. However, what really is the problem now, the guy is dead so what consequences are there to him?

Oh this is not a dying declaration (that is what I described above), this would be a statement against one's own interest. Dying declaration only applies to a person telling about his murderer.

Answer 3

Congratulations, you just discovered the dying declaration exception to the hearsay rule.

Edit:
Well with an affidavit authentication is what is most important. The question at this point is more of whether the affiant was competent, not acting under duress or undue influence; and most importantly, that the document is authentic.

In order to authenticate the document to a legal certainty, you would start with the signature and check to see if the affiant was duly sworn. If he were, the document would be notorized. Also, I would be more convinced if there were witnesses who also signed in attestation of the affiant's state of mind and testamentary capacity.

It really is best to start with trying to disprove these things rather than prove them.

Answer 4

I think if it's made years before your death, while you're still living the lie, you're probably likely to continue it in the affidavit rather than risk it's being opened prior to your death. I think your motive to lie only disappears when your death is imminent.

Answer 5

What you are referring to is a dying declaration. It would be an exception to the hearsay rule and admissible in court.

It is considered reliable for the reasons you suggest. However it is more credible if the fear of imminent death is sudden......"John Smith shot me"....and then you die.

Answer 6

Because they're unethical of course.

Answer 7

my response is to hensleyclaw. . .

if John Smith shot me . . . and you died -- he has REALLY bad aim (or really strong bullets).