Voice Recognition

Voice Recognition in the Courtroom

Perhaps the most famous use of voice recognition evidence in a criminal trial was in the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, executed in 1936 for the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of the aviator Charles Lindbergh. The Lindbergh case was called the trial of the century, and one of the most dramatic moments in the trial was when Lindbergh himself took the stand. Describing the night of the ransom drop-off 3 years before the trial, Lindbergh spoke of hearing a voice from 100 yards away while he waited in his car for a friend to hand over the ransom. When Hauptmann was arrested 29 months later, Lindbergh was brought to the police station to listen to Hauptmann repeat the words of the kidnapper: “Hey doctor! Over here, over here.” Lindbergh testified under oath that he was certain that Hauptmann's voice was the voice of the kidnapper. Experts still disagree over whether the jury reached the correct verdict in finding Hauptmann guilty.

Voice identification has played a role in at least one well-publicized case of erroneous conviction in Canada. In October 1984, a 9-year-old girl named Christine Jessop disappeared from her home in Ontario and was found dead almost 3 months later. She had been stabbed to death, apparently shortly after her disappearance. The investigation quickly focused on a neighbor, Guy Paul Morin, who was arrested in April 1985. Although Morin had a strong alibi, he was brought to trial in 1986 and was initially acquitted. But in Canada, the prosecution can appeal an acquittal, and Morin was retried in 1991. The second trial lasted almost 9 months, and the second jury found Morin guilty.

Although many errors occurred in the investigation of Christine Jessop's death and the trials of Guy Paul Morin, one dramatic piece of evidence at the trial came from Christine's mother, Janet. She testified that on the night of Christine's funeral, she heard an unknown male voice crying out near her home, “Help me, help me, oh God, help me!” She later identified this voice as that of her neighbor, Morin, with whom she had spoken over the fence just a few times. The prosecution claimed that Morin experienced a fit of remorse after the funeral and cried out in emotional agony from his home. While we cannot know the role that this testimony played in the jury's decision, one thing is clear: The wrong man was ultimately convicted. DNA testing revealed several years later that Morin could not possibly be the killer, and he was exonerated in 1995. The real killer has never been found.

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