While there is always some chance of that, I know enough about this particular case to say I don't have any reasonable doubt that the person was in fact guilty.

You may be entirely correct in this case, but the result doesn't generalize.

> "Admitted guilt forthrightly" is also suspicious.

Not really. IMHO, it's pretty common impulse try to apologize when caught doing something in order to get less punishment. An apology is often effectively a confession.

> The principal activity of higher level spooks and investigators is coercing people...

So? Even if there are people who do stuff like that, it's a tiny fraction of cases like this.

Are you unfamiliar with the definition of "principal activity"?

> Are you unfamiliar with the definition of "principal activity"?

Yes. I'm just saying bringing up spies in this case is a distraction. Unless you have some compelling evidence to say it's spies, it's not spies. Your looking for the exotic when the mundane is far, far more likely.

You understand that what you just wrote makes not a lick of sense, in this context?