The convictions of two of B.C.’s most notorious killers are being called into question more than two decades after the murders. A new Netflix documentary series called The Confession Tapes questions whether the confessions from North Shore teens Atif Rafay and Sebastien Burns used in their 2004 conviction were coerced or false.
Rafay and Burns were convicted for the murders of Rafay’s parents and sister who were beaten to death with a baseball bat in their home in Bellevue, Washington. Videos showing their confessions to undercover RCMP officers were used in the U.S. trial, even though they were elicited through a “Mr. Big operation,” or an undercover sting. In U.S. courts, Mr. Big operations are illegal. At the time, however, the practice was legal in Canada. The videos were entered as evidence and Rafay and Burns both received life sentences.
Rafay and Burns were 18 when the murder happened although they were tried as adults.
Kelly Loudenberg, creator and director of the Netflix series, said the use of the tapes raises concerns.
“In terms of looking at their tapes, if you look at them in totality, they’re really childish. You can tell that they’re two teenaged boys and they’re in over their heads,” Loudenberg told CTV News over Skype. “It’s juvenile and it’s silly and I don’t believe one word of the supposed confession.”
When preparing the documentary, Loudenberg said her team looked at transcripts from wiretaps, video tapes, evidence on other suspects, evidence collected in the house, testimonies from neighbours and the suspects’ alibis.
“There was so much there that would have pointed to a different narrative,” she said. “The more I learned about the case, the more I was surprised at their conviction.”
A B.C. lawyer who has closely followed this case said the Mr. Big tapes were crucial in the conviction, even though they might not have been used in a trial today.
“The prosecutors in the United States did not feel they had enough evidence to either charge, let alone extradite, Burns and Rafay from Canada until they had this Mr. Big operation completed,” Jay Straith told CTV News. “There was some circumstantial evidence there, but they weren’t confident enough to lay charges and expect a conviction.”
In the same way that the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer questioned the U.S. justice system, Loudenberg said she hopes The Confession Tapes will also bring awareness to the potential for false and coerced confessions. She said Burns and Rafay’s case needs another look.
“There’s nothing in this that would lead me to believe they committed the murders,” Loudenberg said. “It’s not convincing at all.”
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Michele Brunoro.
