Thomas J. Fallon is a lawyer who works in the criminal litigation department of the Attorney General in Wisconsin, USA. He is also the state's first Child Abuse "Resource Prosecutor", a post recently created by former AG Brad Schimel.[1] Fallon has authored books and presentations on prosecutor ethics, interrogations, sexually violent person proceedings and child abuse. He has written a guide on how to prepare children as prosecution witnesses in court.[2] He has also written "The Basic Do's and Dont's of Interviewing"; "The Miranda Primer-Revised, a training manual for prosecutors and law enforcement officers on Wisconsin Interrogation Law";[3] and the "Safe Schools Legal Resource Manual". He was a national advisor on shaken baby syndrome.[4]
In 2007, Fallon was a special prosecutor alongside Ken Kratz in the trials of Steven Avery and schoolboy Brendan Dassey, which were made internationally known by the Netflix series Making a Murderer in 2015.[6][7] Fallon was the lead prosecutor at Dassey's trial, telling the jury in closing that innocent people don't confess.[8][9] Fallon conducted the examination of the forensic anthropologistLeslie Eisenberg and, at Avery's trial, Scott Fairgrieve.[10] Fallon has been a frequent name in Avery's subsequent legal appeals, especially concerning burned bone fragments.[11] Fallon previously worked on the report which cleared the state of criminal wrongdoing in Avery's prior wrongful conviction for a violent rape.[12]
In 2014, Fallon was one of two prosecutors accused by a coronor, Dr Michael Stier, of having pressured him into withholding his expert opinion in 2007 that a skull irregularity was not from a fracture.[13] The accused, state-registered day care provider Jennifer Hancock, was found guilty and served 13 years.[14]
^Copen, Lynn M. (2000-07-18). Preparing Children for Court: A Practitioner′s Guide. SAGE Publications. Chapter Six: A Prosecutor's Perspective on Court Preparation: Boundaries and Roles. ISBN978-1-4522-2195-3. familiarity with the research on children's memory, suggestibility, and linguistic capabilities is critical in assessing whether a child abuse disclosure is the product of an impermissibly suggestive forensic interview
^Van Hollen, J. B.; Fallon, Tom; Perlman, David (June 2010). Miranda Primer - Revised. Wisconsin DoJ. INTRODUCTION Confession is not only good for the soul, it is a goal of every criminal investigation. A confession furthers the overall objective of the criminal system virtually assuring that only the guilty are convicted. Not only is a confession likely to result in a conviction but it often lessens the likelihood of a trial