Thursday, December 15, 2016

Lesson: Dropped Pronouns in Murder

What guilt looks like in language...
Accusation:  The subject killed his wife by shooting her.  

 " I grabbed my gun on the table.  Didn't mean to.  Next thing I know there is a loud bang and she's laying on the ground.   "

Here is the same statement with emphasis added.  


 " I grabbed my gun on the table. 

Here, the subject begins with the pronoun "I", which means he is, psychologically, putting himself into the sentence.  The statistical leaning is towards reliable.  Reliable is something we view, not overall, but sentence by sentence.  In fact, we can have a reliable statement, yet the subject "still did it", as the deception is from missing information.  

With the pronoun and past tense verb, along with no additional language, this is a very strong sentence, making it reliable or "likely to be truthful."

If it later is determined that this is a lie, we are now looking at a very rare (less than 10%) direct liar, or one who fabricates reality.  The 'true liar' is the most dangerous of all; one who has progressed in deception from pathological consistent lying.  

This would be a subject who could pass a polygraph if the examiner is not careful to restrict language to only the subject's own language.  

We work on percentages, however, and proceed with the 90% trail: consider the sentence reliable and follow this trail to see if it works out.  


 Didn't mean to.  

Now enters the missing pronoun.  The subject grabbed his gun (being present) but now as he addresses intention, he removes himself from the sentence.  Psychologically, he is missing from denial of intention.  Technically, "who" did not mean to?  The subject does not say.  

Next thing I know 

This is a 'linguistic indicator' that the subject is jumping over time, in his mind, (deliberate) which, as an expression, is flagged for follow up questions.  Any place a subject skips over time, we consider relevancy, the reason for skipping, and if relevant, questions will be targeted in this specific area because the subject, himself, has signaled an unwillingness to tell us what happened in this period of time.  


there is a loud bang 

Here we have two critical points:

a.  Passive voice
b.  Verb tense change 

Passivity seeks to conceal identity and/or responsibility.  Beginning with the grabbed gun, this sentence is, contextually, likely true, yet there is something within the subject that wants to conceal the identity of the shooter, pushing away responsibility for having pulled the trigger.  

Loud bangs do not just happen.  Guns do not fire themselves.  The use of passivity is consistent with the dropped pronoun of 'reduced commitment' and a psychological removal of self from the sentence.  

The present tense: 

a.  continued psychological distancing from the action consistent with deception
b.  possible reliving of the event 

Think of the speed of transmission from the brain to the tongue as less than a millisecond of time.  Something within the brain triggered him to drop his pronoun, use passivity and use present tense verb coming from a subject who began with the pronoun "I" and past tense verb.  


and she's laying on the ground.   "

"and" connects words, and the present tense language continues from the passivity. 

As we begin with the strong likelihood of reliability from the first sentence, we see the deviation is immediate and it is concerning areas of guilt.  

Taken in conclusion, we are able to conclude "deception indicated" and that the subject is the killer of his wife.  

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A Tennessee newspaper that reported a boy died on Santa's lap -- complete with a heart-wrenching account of his final words -- said Wednesday it could no longer vouch for the veracity of the depressingly Dickensian Christmas story.

The News Sentinel published a story Sunday about a Campbell County Santa Claus actor, Eric Schmitt-Matzen, who said a terminally ill child had died in his arms. The story quickly went viral, with dozens of local and national news outlets interviewing Schmitt-Matzen about his emotional encounter with the unnamed 5-year-old boy.

But the paper said it cannot verify the account by Schmitt-Matzen, a 60-year-old mechanical engineer from Jacksboro, Tenn., who spends time volunteering as Santa Claus at a local hospital.

Still, Knoxville TV station WBIR reported that it did independently confirm many critical details of the story -- but would not go into further detail, citing privacy concerns.

“I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I’ve seen my share of [stuff],” Schmitt-Matzen told the newspaper. “But I ran by the nurses’ station bawling my head off. I know nurses and doctors see things like that every day, but I don’t know how they can take it.”

Schmitt-Matzen, a mechanical engineer and president of Packing Seals & Engineering in Jacksboro, Tenn., told news outlets he arrived at the unidentified hospital and met the boy’s mother and family members, who were also unidentified. A nurse had called with the special request and given him a toy to offer the child during his visit, the paper reported.

"When I walked in, he was laying there so weak, it looked like he was ready to fall asleep,” Schmitt-Matzen told the news outlet. “I sat down on his bed and asked, ‘Say, what’s this I hear about you’re going to miss Christmas? There’s no way you can miss Christmas! You’re my No. 1 elf!’”

“He looked up and said, ‘I am?’ I said ‘Sure.’”

Schmitt-Matzen told the News Sentinel that he watched him open the present and smile before he lay back down.

“’They say I’m going to die,’ he told me. ‘How can I tell when I get to where I’m going?’ I said, ‘Can you do me a big favor?’ He said ‘Sure!’ 'When you get there, you tell them you’re Santa’s No. 1 elf and I know they’ll let you in.’ He said, ‘They will?’ I said, ‘Sure.’”

“He kind of sat up, and gave me a big hug and asked one more question: ‘Santa can you help me?’ I wrapped my arms around him. Before I could say anything, he died right there. I let him stay, just kept hugging and holding on to him,” Schmitt-Matzen told the paper.

In a report Wednesday, the newspaper said: "Since publication, the News Sentinel has done additional investigation in an attempt to independently verify Schmitt-Matzen’s account."

"This has proven unsuccessful," the paper added. "Although facts about his background have checked out, his story of bringing a gift to a dying child remains unverified. The News Sentinel cannot establish that Schmitt-Matzen’s account is inaccurate, but more importantly, ongoing reporting cannot establish that it is accurate."

Click for more from the News Sentinel

Anonymous said...

https://twitter.com/orcacon/status/809809236494430209
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she her
he him