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. For example, 21 police departments in the state conduct blind photo lineups, in which the person administering the viewing doesnt know who the suspect is. Document Witness Confidence and Videotape Witness Identifications. Several police officers reported and later testified at Heidelbergs criminal trial that they observed him driving the subject vehicle as it sped past them at various points during the chase. She unsuccessfully appealed against her conviction in 2000. Police officers should avoid leading questioning while interviewing potential eyewitnesses, since eyewitnesses might be eager to say what they think will help the investigation, rather than the unblemished version of their memory. Confidence collected at the time of an identification during a double-blind lineup procedure is informative regarding the eyewitnesss accuracy. Scientific best practices for conducting eyewitness lineups require that the person administering the lineup not know who the police suspect. COVID origins? He did it and was fortunate not to be sentenced to death in that era. Just because memory is malleablefor example, it can be contaminated with the trace of an innocent persondoes not mean that it has to be unreliable. Expert witness evidence is not needed in all legal proceedings but it plays an important part in many cases. As of 2014, 44 states and all federal circuits, with the possible exception of the 11th Circuit, allow such expert testimony at the discretion of the trial judge.21, Eyewitness Testimony: Application in Court, The Manson v. Brathwaite test under the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution for assessing eyewitness identification evidence was established in 1977, before much applied research on eyewitness identification had been conducted. In Millers case, the two parking lot attendants were immediately suspicious when the victims car approached the ticket booth. During Wednesday's interview with CNN, Amirabdollahian accused western media outlets of encouraging violent protests in his country. Two other eyewitnesses, a couple, remembered discussing their selection with one another and confirming each others decisions. Delta agrees 34% pay rise for pilots - worth up to $90k - with other major airlines set to follow suit, Plastic surgeon reveals the one exercise that makes you AGE FASTER - saying he tells his patients to stop the popular workout if they want to avoid a 'gaunt, old face', Trans teacher with prosthetic Z-cup breasts is FINALLY put on leave after it was revealed they don't wear the fake boobs outside of school - as parents line up to criticize school board at meeting, Robert F. Kennedy's assassin Sirhan Sirhan, 78, is DENIED parole because he still refuses to reveal reason for 1968 murder of the senator and then-presidential candidate, More than a DOZEN whistleblowers came forward to claim Hunter Biden was involved in criminal activity, Republican Senator reveals for the first time during grilling of AG Merrick Garland, Senators slam Biden official after two senior hires were discovered to have been forced out of previous jobs for sexual harassment - with one paying $89,500 settlement to victim, I'm a Feng Shui expert and these are the three things I will never allow in a bedroom - and you're likely to be guilty of having at least one, REVEALED: 'Bomb' almost smuggled onto passenger plane in Pennsylvania was a commercial grade FIREWORK stitched into suitcase lining - arrested man, 40, has long rap sheet, 'He played Muhammad Ali, I played Pookie! Juries are particularly prone to being swayed by eyewitness testimony, as evidenced in the Curtis Flowers case. Knowledge awaits. Miller was ultimately charged with rape, robbery and kidnapping. Claimed to have called out to Flowers that day. Marilyn Stowe instructed a pathologist to review the medical notes of both infants. The guilty verdict was confirmed by both state Appellate and Supreme Courts. Thirty Years of DNA Forensics: How DNA Has Revolutionized Criminal Investigations., See here: Innocence Project, Eyewitness misidentification, Crime in the United States 2012: Persons Arrested,. The ability of a person who witnesses a crime to later pick the perpetrator out of a lineup is atrociousright? (2017). And have you read a recent peer-reviewed paper that you would like to write about? These courts generally accept detailed descriptions of relevant scientific research findings to either attack or support eyewitness testimony.19 Other courts, meanwhile, leave the jury to determine the credibility of eyewitness testimony and insist that findings from scientific research in this area cannot help the jury to do so.20
And third, the confidence expressed by the eyewitness following an identification of someone from the lineup must be recorded. His doctors maintained that he was suffering from pre-senile dementia, and he couldnt remember three numbers backwards or the name of the US president. A neurologist also claimed that Saunders brain was small for a man his age and showed evidence of shrinking. No comments have so far been submitted. The victim, a white female, parked her car in that garage every day and the attendants noticed that as the car approached there was an unknown black male driving the car. Andy Hale is a civil rights attorney, specializing in wrongful convictions in Chicago, Illinois. Last updated: 27 February 2023. The appeal was successful and the conviction was quashed. Even if he allows it, he will have to instruct the jury about the variables that can lead to misidentification. But eyewitnesses aren't always right, and poor investigative practices can make matters worse. Carter has now been indicted for the murder by a grand jury, and Lydell Grant was released from prison. John Worboyss victims alleged that he assaulted them after offering them champagne which he had spiked with drugs. To many Americans including many jurors eyewitness testimony is the gold standard when it comes to evidence. It does make sure that photos in a lineup resemble one another.) An initial eyewitness identification made with low confidence indicates that even though memory was not contaminated, the ID is untrustworthy (that is, by indicating low confidence, the eyewitness is effectively saying, Theres a good chance that Im making an error). Yet, based on, among other things, this powerful purported eyewitness evidence, Heidelberg was convicted. circuit court, the 29-year-old was convicted of a rape that he did not commit and was sentenced to five life sentences. He served 61 years in prison before being released on parole in February 2020. What facts gave rise to the belief that Leiterman may have been wrongfully convicted based on contaminated evidence? The parole board initially approved him for release. The way to avoid these problems with eyewitness testimony is for police to adopt best practices based on the psychological research. In the Miller case, a woman was raped in her car in a parking garage in downtown Chicago. 'You're supposed to interview me but you're actually having a confrontation with me,' he told Amanpour. Videotaping allows for review of eyewitness testimony later on in the trial if the reliability of eyewitness testimony is called into question. During the meeting Amirabdollahian said Irans government was committed to upholding human rights. Are you a scientist who specializes in neuroscience, cognitive science, or psychology? The prosecutor, Doug Evans, tried Curtis Flowers, a former employee at Tardy, six times for the crime.29 The Flowers case relied on three key points of evidence: (1) the eyewitness testimony of people who placed Curtis Flowers on the route from his home, to steal a gun, back to his home and then to Tardy to commit the murders and then home again (2) ballistics and (3) jailhouse confessions.30
Not so with eyewitness memory. To see why, let us revisit those DNA exoneration cases that so often involve eyewitness misidentification. 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. Medicolegal court reports are requested where expert witness evidence is required. 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. In assessing the reliability of eyewitness identification, federal and state courts are still divided on (1) whether expert testimony on eyewitness identification should be allowed under either Daubert or Frye and (2) the proper exercise of trial court discretion when deciding whether to admit such expert testimony.18
Read through our advertising and sponsorship rates and contact us. 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. Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, attorneys, and jurors need to realize that just because a witness says so does not make it so. The pathologist discovered that one of the babies had in fact died from a viral infection, not cot death. Some elements include the following: First, and most important of all, because the test itself contaminates memory, only the initial memory test provides uncontaminated results. 23 United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 230, 288 (1967). Do not sell or share my personal information. 'The issue in Iran at the moment is not that of hijab.'. This can be true even in situations where the witness has an ample opportunity to observe the offender. After she had spent several years in prison, an independent consultant psychiatrist was instructed as an expert witness. Dan tries to find out more about Mustafa . 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. 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Specifically, the eyewitness had identified the defendant from her window, as the defendant was standing in the dark next to a police officer; however, the eyewitness had pointed to the defendant spontaneously, without the police asking her to do so.16 The Court ruled that, because the police had not induced the identification under suggestive circumstances, the trial judge had not erred in admitting the eyewitness testimony without assessing its reliability under the second step of the Manson test.17
Miller was placed in a lineup and one of the parking lot attendants positively identified Miller; the other parking lot attendant tentatively identified him. 4 Defffenbacher, et al. 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. In other cases, the circumstances of a purported witness identification may be flimsy; yet the prosecutors still rely on that identification, which is then presented as rock-solid evidence at trial. 'This is not the way to conduct an interview. 24 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2012: Persons Arrested,. There, the prosecution claims that Flowers stole Doyle Simpsons gun from the glove compartment of Doyles unlocked car and then walked back to his home on the West side of town. Attributing that error to the unreliability of eyewitness memory is, in our view, pointing the finger of blame in the wrong direction. Here is a link to a general overview on eyewitness testimony from the National Science Foundation. Instructing an expert witness is not unusualthere are many much-publicised cases where the role of expert evidence has been significant. Eyewitness memory is reliable when initially tested using proper procedures, but the legal system nonetheless habitually relies on unreliable (contaminated) eyewitness evidence from later IDs. Expert Evidence In Family Cases Where Spouse Is Unable To Return To Work Due To Illness, The revised psychopathy checklist (PCL-R), Proving Automatism Defences In Criminal Cases, Understanding the Value of an Occupational Therapist Expert Witness, Causation in personal injury or medical negligence, Assessments of sexual offending, violent behaviour offending, arson, and stalking. Many believe that this conviction was based on contaminated DNA evidence. Advertise to our national and international criminal justice audience at The Crime Report and support our mission. My Blog cases where eyewitnesses were right. 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. Pictured: Protestors take part in an anti-Iran demonstration on December 24, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey, Women burned their headscarves in Kurdish-controlled north-east Syria in September 2022. Its a fact that eyewitnesses make mistakes. (Sometimes there is an issue of racial bias connected with eyewitness misidentification, but this was not a factor as the parking lot attendants were also African American.). Gareth, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, is the series editor of Best American Infographics and can be reached at garethideas AT gmail.com or Twitter@garethideas. 3 Eyewitness Misidentification. 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