America: The Gear-Up Detective

Chapter 97 Confirms the Murderer

Hank and Rod sat in the car, looking at each other in bewilderment.

A short while later, Hank broke the silence, "Fuck!"

"Can anyone tell me what Jin Yulin is thinking?"

"Who knows?"

Rod looked at the several security cameras not far from Jin Yulin's parents' house and had an idea.

the other side.

In an office building three blocks away from the Moore neighborhood.

José and Anna went to the psychologist where Kim Yu-lin had previously received treatment.

This is a private clinic.

Many psychologists in the United States work in private practice.

Jose knocked on the glass door in front of him.

A short while later, a white woman in a suit, who looked to be in her forties, walked out of the office.

"Who are you?"

Jose and Anna showed their badges: "LAPD Murder and Robbery Division, Detective Jose, Detective Anna."

Are you Dr. Murphy?

Murphy Morrow looked at the two detectives with a puzzled expression, wondering why the police had come to him.

But no matter the reason, in America, being called in by the police means all sorts of trouble.

"It's me. What can I do for you?"

"Dr. Murphy, we've come for one of your patients."

"Would it be convenient for us to come in and talk?"

Murphy turned to the side, gesturing for the two to come in.

The office, or rather, the treatment room.

The room is brightly lit, the walls are painted white, and the furnishings are arranged in a very simple manner.

Murphy sat in a leather chair behind her desk, with José and Anna sitting opposite her.

This scene, rather than José taking a statement from Murphy, is more like the two of them receiving treatment from Murphy.

Medical inquiry.

Sensing something amiss, Jose shifted his body, then asked in a deep voice, "Dr. Murphy, do you recognize the name Jin Yulin?"

Murphy frowned, understanding dawned on him, and instantly gave an affirmative answer, "Oh, yes, I remember."

What's wrong with her?

Jose shook his head, not answering Murphy's question, and instead asked, "This is a search warrant for Jin Yulin. Can you give us her medical records?"

Murphy chuckled. "I'd like to cooperate, but according to California law, I'm afraid I can't give it to you directly."

I don't want to get myself into trouble...

Jose rubbed his nose; as a seasoned detective, he certainly knew California law.

California law explicitly defines "psychotherapist-patient privilege".

Privilege).

This privilege means that patients have the right to refuse to disclose the contents of their confidential communications with their therapists to outsiders, and can request that their therapists also keep such communications confidential.

Even with a search warrant, this privilege cannot be overridden.

There are ways to obtain patient records, but the process is extremely complicated and troublesome.

The search of the files must be carried out by a court-appointed lawyer who is unrelated to the case and independent of the police.

The lawyer will first review all the materials and filter out the parts that are indeed confidential communications. The police initially could not even directly see all the diagnostic and treatment contents.

After the lawyer completes the initial screening, the court will hold a hearing, and the judge will ultimately decide which materials can be handed over to the police as evidence and which must be returned, in order to protect the patient's right to privacy to the greatest extent possible.

Yes, that's very American...

Of course, there is one exception: the "dangerous patient" principle.

If a psychologist has reasonable grounds to believe that a patient poses an immediate and serious physical threat to themselves or others, then the doctor has the right to disclose necessary information to prevent harm from occurring.

It is worth noting that the triggering conditions for such disclosure are aimed at future dangers or behaviors, and are limited to disclosing the information necessary to prevent the danger from occurring.

This principle generally does not apply to crimes that have already occurred but are no longer ongoing. This means that even if a perpetrator confesses to their doctor about a crime they committed, the doctor cannot use those records to report the crime or file a lawsuit.

A famous example is the Menendez Brothers case.

In this case, psychiatrist Dr. Oziel stated that the Menendez brothers confessed to him about murdering their parents and attempted to assert the "dangerous patient exception" principle in order to disclose the relevant conversations.

However, the California Supreme Court ruled that, since the murder had already occurred, the brothers' confession to the doctor at the time was primarily for emotional release, rather than for preventing future dangers.

Therefore, the exception does not apply, and the relevant conversation content remains protected by privilege and cannot be used as evidence.

Jose was well aware of the existence of this law, but he was just trying it out. Seeing that it didn't work, he then asked, "So, when she was receiving your treatment, did she have any tendencies? Or did she reveal any dangerous plans or past criminal information that she couldn't say because of the 'psychiatrist-patient immunity'?"

However, cases involving future, specific, and identifiable threats or plans of violence are considered an "exception," and doctors must inform the police in such cases.

Murphy thought for a moment and replied in a deep voice, "I am a professional psychiatrist. If I notice that she is doing or planning anything that could harm others, I will call the police on the spot."

But I've never done that before.

Murphy deliberately or unintentionally emphasized certain words, as if he were hinting at something.

After a brief pause, Dr. Murphy added, "She's just experiencing some insomnia and depression because of her husband's death."

Based on my assessment at the time, I prescribed her some antidepressants...

That's all I can tell you.

Listening to Dr. Murphy's words, Jose stroked his chin, a thoughtful look in his eyes, and said softly, "Is that so? I understand."

After chatting for a few more minutes, José and Anna got up and left.

Downstairs in the office building.

As soon as Jose stepped out of the building, he called Connor.

"Captain, I think we should hire a lawyer and start investigating Jin Yulin's medical records..."

Anna, who had remained silent the whole time, looked at José with a puzzled expression.

After hanging up the phone, before Anna could ask any questions, Jose explained, "Dr. Murphy kept emphasizing that he was a professional."

"And you've repeatedly said that Jin Yulin had no plans or premeditations to harm others. Don't you feel there's something wrong with that?"

Anna's eyes widened, a sudden realization dawning on her. "You mean..."

"That's called an implication," José said with a smile. "Rules are rules, but people are flexible... It seems Jin Yulin really did do something infuriating."

Police Department, meeting room.

Evan stroked his freshly trimmed beard and offered his opinion: "From a timeline perspective..."

Although we are currently unable to accurately confirm the time of the two children's deaths due to various reasons.

However, according to the information that Luo De received from Jin Yulin's parents, the child had already been murdered on the day Jin Yulin set off.

The day before, Jin Yulin went to the clinic again.

It's possible that this was the time she told Dr. Murphy something...

So that's why Jose felt Dr. Murphy was hinting at something to us?

Jose nodded, then added his own opinion: "If Jin Yulin had told Dr. Murphy about her cruelty toward the two children out of some desire to confide in him, or out of trust in Dr. Murphy."

She may have felt fear or regret afterward, which led to Jin Yulin's escape the following day.

The group was still considering other possibilities and breakthroughs.

Applying for a lawyer to conduct a search and then obtaining the records is a lengthy process.

If we just wait quietly for the results of the file, then Jin Yulin will have disappeared somewhere.

Therefore, the group still needs some other clues.

At this point, Rod spoke up, "I've observed the community where Jin Yulin's parents live; there's a lot of surveillance."

Now that we know Jin Yulin has switched to her father's Toyota, we can directly track her license plate.

Follow her route.

Since she had a suitcase in her car when she left the Mori neighborhood, at least one of her stops must have been at the port of San Pedro Bay!

Unfortunately, Jin Yulin's father's Toyota Corolla was quite old, a model from ten years ago, and did not have GPS tracking installed at the time. This meant that Rod and his team could not directly contact the vehicle company to check her movements and had to manually review all the surveillance footage.

Fortunately, modern police surveillance systems have automated license plate recognition (ALPR) systems that can automatically capture and identify license plates, which saves a lot of effort.