Like eyewitness memory, DNA evidence can be contaminated with the trace of an innocent person. He was 19 at the time of that attack. Few would doubt that under such conditions, DNA evidence is highly reliable. In 2009, he was charged with assaulting 12 women. But if the six eyewitnesses chose Lydell Grant from the lineup only because they were cued to do so by the case detective, why were they so confident in their identifications? 21 Commonwealth v. Walker, 625 Pa. 450, 47678 (2014). Years later, in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court highlighted the danger of erroneous eyewitness identification in United States v. Wade, stating, The vagaries of eyewitness identification are well-known; the annals of criminal law are rife with instances of mistaken identification.23 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimates that U.S. law enforcement made 12,196,959 arrests in 2012. But studies demonstrate that a variety of factors can lead to the misidentification of criminals. To do this, proper testing protocols that reduce chances of contamination need to be followed. But eyewitnesses allege she was severely beaten and died as a result of police brutality. However, Solicitor, Marilyn Stowe, had concerns about the expert evidence of Professor Meadow. The answer seems like a resounding yes if you consider some well-known and rather disconcerting information. the time between the crime and the identification procedure. Similarly, a witness may mistakenly perceive the circumstances of a crime or event, such as a car accident. Chester Weger was convicted in 1961 of the notorious Starved Rock Murders, in which three women were brutally killed and their bodies left in a park located in LaSalle County, Illinois about two hours southwest of Chicago. Following a protracted trial,Saunders was found guilty ofconspiracy, theft, and false accounting. Assistant Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University. My review of the transcripts from Grants trial suggests a simple explanation for these high-confidence mistakes: The police did not use scientific best practices for collecting the eyewitness identification evidence. Consider the important, and often overlooked, distinction between malleability and reliability. Gov. In reviewing the case, it is more than apparent that the convicted man had motive, opportunity and means to commit this crime. I am currently involved in another case in which the failings of witness identification are starkly evident. This created an inherent bias that made the lineup unfair, and likely affected the victims subsequent identification. What law enforcementand the publicneeds to know. We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. What the cases of Miller and Heidelberg highlight is that witnesses are often wrong. After she had spent several years in prison, an independent consultant psychiatrist was instructed as an expert witness. Many more sit in prisons who have not had the opportunity to have their cases re-investigated or samples re-tested. In about 70% of these cases, misidentification by one or more eyewitnesses contributed significantly as evidence for conviction.3, Eyewitness Testimony: General Social Science Findings, Throughout history, eyewitness testimony was held up as the golden nugget of evidence. This allows jurors to make more informed decisions while evaluating particular eyewitness testimony. Thanks to the work of the Innocence Project of Texas, new DNA testing on biological material collected from underneath the victims fingernails cleared Grant and implicated another man, Jermarico Carter, who police said confessed to the killing. But when the witnesses had received a simple reinforcing comment following their identification (Good job, you got the guy), the mock jurors could no longer tell the difference between accurate and mistaken eyewitnesses. In 1932, Yale University law professor Edwin M. Borchard documented nearly seventy cases of miscarriage of justice caused by eyewitness errors in his book, Convicting the Innocent. If New Jersey can have statewide guidelines, so can California. In Winona, Mississippi on July 16, 1996, four people were shot and killed at Tardy furniture store. However, there has yet to be research showing what ideal instructions would look like, as each case involving eyewitness testimony varies from each other. The case shed renewed light on the country's treatment of women, with a growing number of female Iranians choosing to flout the Sharia-based law to wear the hijab. By itself, that fact only shows that contaminated memory is unreliable (just as contaminated DNA evidence is). 13 See Timothy P. OToole & Giovanna Shay, Manson v. Brathwaite Revisited: Towards a New Rule of Decision for Due Process Challenges to Eyewitness Identification Procedures, 41 Val. The prosecution then claims that Flowers then walked again from his house to Tardy Furniture to commit the murder, passing an auto body shop and a drycleaner on the way, as well as Highway 51. Incredibly, prior to Heidelbergs sentencing, the real shooter, James Clark, confessed to the crime, but the confession fell on deaf ears and Heidelberg was sentenced to 99 to 175 years in prison. First, another DNA profileone belonging to John Ruelas, who was just a four-year-old preschooler at the time of the murderwas found on a blood spot taken from the victims left hand. Mahsa Amini, 22, died on September 16, three days after falling into a coma following her arrest, After the death of Mahsa Amini, Anti Iran protests have been held in many parts of the world. The involvement of expert witnesses in famous expert witness cases often leads to changes in how expert evidence is formulated and the effect it may have on the outcome of the proceedings. Eyewitness testimony done right L.A. Times Archives Sept. 8, 2011 12 AM PT To many Americans including many jurors eyewitness testimony is the gold standard when it comes to evidence. Of course, he knew that Lydell Grant was the one under suspicion. Overall, an issue plaguing both courts and law enforcement is the lack of standard procedures to safeguard defendants against unreliable eyewitness testimony. Videos circulating on Twitter appeared to show dozens of UN diplomats walking out as he started to speak. It does make sure that photos in a lineup resemble one another.) One reported that he had identified Grant without doubt or hesitation. The case shed renewed light on the country's treatment of women, with a growing number of female Iranians choosing to flout the Sharia-based law to wear the hijab. Iran's foreign minister could not stop smirking as he was grilled about his country's record on women's rights in a combative interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday. Speak to our experts today for advice. Instructing an expert witness is not unusualthere are many much-publicised cases where the role of expert evidence has been significant. My Blog cases where eyewitnesses were right. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. 10 Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114 (1977). 'To the extent that Daesh or even ISIS exploited the situation to establish a presence in Iran. In the sad case of the 1960 Starved Rock murders, there were EIGHT confessions by Chester Weger made to different people at different times, including a re-enactment of the crime at the scene covered by more than a dozen reporters/photographers. Blood and fingerprint evidence, per se, would not be deemed unreliable. Last updated: 27 February 2023. 32 National Research Council, Identifying The Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification 38, 4-8 (2014). In an effort to overwhelm Chester and break him down, he was placed in a lineup regarding two incidents that took place in 1959 in a nearby State Park called Deer Park, one of which was that rape case and the other was a purse snatching. The other individuals placed in a lineup with the suspect (known as fillers) are supposed to reasonably resemble the suspect in terms of age, height and weight so that the suspect does not stand out. But a comparison of the pairs mugshots reveals that they bear little physical resemblance to one another beyond both being Black men. Advertise to our national and international criminal justice audience at The Crime Report and support our mission. Recently, post-conviction DNA exonerations of innocent persons have dramatically highlighted the problems with eyewitness identifications. Thus, Chester was charged with three separate felonies as a way to overwhelm him and break him down. Thanks for reading Scientific American. 22 Edwin M. Borchard, Convicting the Innocent: Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice (New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1932). Most recently, in 2012, the Supreme Court clarified that the Due Process Clause does not require judges to assess the reliability of eyewitness identifications made under suggestive circumstances when the circumstances are not created by law enforcement officials.15 In other words, in cases where the proffered identification does not result from suggestive police procedure, the judge need not consider whether the identification also passes the second step of the Manson test. The ability of a person who witnesses a crime to later pick the perpetrator out of a lineup is atrociousright? No comments have so far been submitted. Even if he allows it, he will have to instruct the jury about the variables that can lead to misidentification. Eyewitness misidentifications are known to have played a role in 70 percent of the 349 wrongful convictions that have been overturned based on DNA evidence (so far). One might assume that Grant was the murderers unlucky doppelganger. Get in touch with our team of experts today! A cornerstone of the state's case is the video at or near the kennels filmed on Paul's phone starting at 8:44 p.m. in which Murdaugh's voice can be heard in the background. So are The Conversations authors and editors. Two other eyewitnesses, a couple, remembered discussing their selection with one another and confirming each others decisions. Pregnant), Left and got about 1-2 blocks away and saw a man running west, away from downtown, it was her neighbor Flowers, Clemy pointed it out to Roy but Roy did not recognize him, Couldnt remember his clothes or shoes, did not describe seeing blood on him, Latarsha, Clemys cousin, remains convinced that Clemy made up the story because she felt pressured by law enforcement and because she might be able to get money Latarsha was also taken by the police at 19 to be asked questions and Johnson implied that she might get some of the reward money (30k) if she corroborated, Saw a man running across the street 1-2 blocks away that day of the murders, he was alone (not with Clemy) and it was earlier in the morning and when he was with Clemy later, they did not see anybody running, Law enforcement came and found Roy and he ended up giving a statement to John Johnson, Was shown Flowers picture (school picture) ONLY Flowers asked if that was the person Roy saw running Roy said no and John Johnson pushed Roy that it was Flowers and that Clemy was with him when it happened eventually Roy said he broke down and agreed to the story because he wanted to get out of there (he was afraid of Johnson), After that, Johnson recorded Clemy telling her story of seeing Flowers running away from downtown. This is not always the case. Most of these witnesses personally knew Flowers, and many had grown up with him, lived in his same neighborhood. Noting a victims initial confidence level at the initial identification can be important, so as to track if the witness grows more or less confident with the identification over the course of the trial, which might be an indicator of eyewitness unreliability. Laura Mickes is an academic at Royal Holloway, University of London. Although the high accuracy of an initial ID made with high confidence is important to appreciate, the low accuracy of an ID made with low confidence may be even more important to appreciate. Letters to the Editor: Yes, L.A. drivers are getting worse. According to the same theory, 33 years later, in 2002, in an almost inconceivable coincidence, evidence samples from Mixer, Ruelas and Leiterman just happened to be together again in the Michigan State Police Laboratory. Some courts have held it as an abuse of discretion for a trial judge to bar the defense from admitting expert testimony on eyewitness identification. The variables include: viewing conditions (lighting-distance-duration), distracting stimuli (weapons-loud noises) and internal states of the observer (attention-motivation-skill-prejudice). Examples of when an expert witness may be needed include: To hire an expert witness, you may make contact with us via our simple online contact form, call us on 01865 587 865 or by requesting a call back from our team via the link below. Disconcerting information get in touch with our team of experts today would not deemed! Unreliable eyewitness testimony he will have to instruct the jury about the expert evidence has been.... Who have not had the opportunity to have their cases re-investigated or samples re-tested ( 1977.... She was cases where eyewitnesses were right beaten and died as a result of police brutality unreliable. 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