Prior to admitting eyewitness testimony, judges should make inquiries into the reliability of the eyewitness, looking for any indications of unreliability. When proper procedures are not followed, the potential for error exists. Arnaud, Celia Henry. To many Americans including many jurors eyewitness testimony is the gold standard when it comes to evidence. Police in some California counties use some of the methods recommended by the New Jersey court and by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice. Judges in California routinely talk to jurors about the possibility of misidentification, but their instructions arent as complete as those contemplated by the New Jersey court. Readers speculate why, Letters to the Editor: Serious about the drought? 27 The Innocence Project, Eyewitness Identification,. Police lineups have evolved over time, but some states still need to catch up. Renowned Expert witnesses include doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and other professionals who are instructed to give expert opinions in legal proceedings. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Editorial: He spent 38 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit. 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 to select the person they believe to be a prime suspect. They were then asked a leading question about how fast the car was going when it passed the yield sign. In the Miller case, a. As with all indeterminate sentences, decisions around release are the sole responsibility of the Parole Board. Blood and fingerprint evidence, per se, would not be deemed unreliable. In Manson, the Supreme Court highlighted reliability as the linchpin in determining the admissibility of identification testimony and adopted a totality of the circumstances test to assess reliability in this context.10 The guilty verdict was confirmed by both state Appellate and Supreme Courts. 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. Imagine if police let unauthorized people have willy-nilly access to a crime scene that is under investigation. Ernest Saunders, along with three other men, were part of the Guinness Four who were accused of being involved in ascheme to fraudulently increasethe price of Guinness shares. 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. Family weapons were used to kill the victims in the Murdaugh case, prosecutor says Prosecutor Creighton Waters speaks during closing arguments on Wednesday, March 1. In Millers case, the two parking lot attendants were immediately suspicious when the victims car approached the ticket booth. The Louisiana Supreme Court remanded the case based on prosecutorial and police misconduct, including improper argument at the trial and failure to disclose the existence of exculpatory witnesses. The attendants were also able to have a brief conversation with the driver before he fled on foot. According to the prosecution on the day of the murder, at around 7 am, Flowers walked from his home on the West side of town all the way to a sewing factory parking lot on the East side of town, crossing Highway 51, one of the towns largest streets, while doing so. Videos circulating on Twitter appeared to show dozens of UN diplomats walking out as he started to speak. was a video tape, and his presence and the time of the event were confirmed by two athletic directors, his coach, and members of the opposing team. After . So are The Conversations authors and editors. She was sentenced to life in prison. In this case, 120 eyewitnesses from as far north as Grants Pass, Ore., to as far south as. A "double-blind" lineup or photo-array is when the person interviewing the potential eyewitness does not which of the persons in a photo array or lineup is the actual suspect. Published: 00:56 EST, 2 March 2023 | Updated: 01:01 EST, 2 March 2023. 22 Edwin M. Borchard, Convicting the Innocent: Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice (New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1932). 14 Manson, 432 U.S. 98, 12526 (Marshall, J., dissenting). I am currently involved in another case in which the failings of witness identification are starkly evident. Instructions given to eyewitnesses should be clear, simple and standardized across jurisdictions. You can get our highlights each weekend.]. Juries should also be informed as to the manner of the identification, the eyewitnesss confidence and other factors that might influence reliability. 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. Daryl G. Kimball and Frank von Hippel | Opinion. Later two slideshows were shown, one with a stop sign and the other with a yield sign and they asked the subjects which was the one they had previously seen. Opinion: Why does Mexicos president want to dismantle the democratic system that elected him? In 1999, Sally Clark, a solicitor, was convicted of murdering her two infant sons (one in 1996 and the other in 1998) at Chester Crown Court. The psychiatrist formed an opinion of her mental state at the time of the homicide. According to the Innocence Project, mistaken identifications are the leading factor in wrongful convictions, accounting for almost 70 percent of the wrongful convictions overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison. 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. This opinion differed from the opinions formed by the other professionals, who concluded that John Worboys should remain in prison. the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime; the accuracy of the witnesss prior description of the criminal; the level of certainty demonstrated at the identification procedure; and. Eyewitness testimony can hold a lot of weight with jurors. Other major dangers that have plagued eyewitness reports are factors such as high-stress situations, how witnesses are interviewed by police, and whether the victim is the same or different race as the witness.6 In 2001, Meissner and Brigham performed a broad review of research on cross-race identification, analyzing data from 39 research articles and 5,000 subjects/witnesses. Even where a judge determines that a given identification procedure is unnecessarily suggestive, the judge may nonetheless admit the results of the procedure if they are deemed reliable based on these factors.13 In his dissenting opinion, Justice Marshall criticized the Court for ignoring studies showing that unnecessarily suggestive eyewitness identifications had led to erroneous convictions even where such identifications had been deemed reliable.14 Before crime shows like CSI and the scientific advancements which ushered in modern forensics such as fingerprinting and DNA, eyewitnesses were often the only form of proof of a guilty person or act. 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. John Worboys was given an indeterminate prison sentence. Her defence had argued that the children had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), but expert witness, Sir Professor Roy Meadow, told the court that the probability of two children from an affluent family suffering SIDS was 1 in 73 million. Eyewitness Testimony: Recommended Practices, Eyewitness testimony continues to be commonplace in law enforcement and trials. The variables include: viewing conditions (lighting-distance-duration), distracting stimuli (weapons-loud noises) and internal states of the observer (attention-motivation-skill-prejudice). Historically, eyewitness testimony has been in use not only in the United States and our penal system but all around the world. Another stated that the killers face was burned into [her] memory immediately.. Finally, a witness may have more difficulty making a correct identification when he and the suspect are of different races. But a comparison of the pairs mugshots reveals that they bear little physical resemblance to one another beyond both being Black men. By itself, that fact only shows that contaminated memory is unreliable (just as contaminated DNA evidence is). They range from photo lineups in which none of the other images resembles the suspect to subtle pressure on a witness from an officer who knows which picture is the correct one. The rebuttal comes more than a month into the murder trial of Murdaugh, the 54-year-old disbarred personal injury attorney and member of a dynastic family in South Carolina's Lowcountry, where his . Subsequent memory tests, including the dramatic one that occurs in court in front of the jury, constitute contaminated evidence. It was the right decision on the time. 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. Yet, based on, among other things, this powerful purported eyewitness evidence, Heidelberg was convicted. 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. This section will focus on the courts current treatment of eyewitness testimony. Standardized instructions regarding best practices should be given, including such tips as the importance of minimizing contact between witnesses at the scene, and how gathering eyewitness testimony as early as possible tends to increase its accuracy. Psychological scientists, however, have challenged many of the assumptions of the legal system and the general public regarding the. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. And third, the confidence expressed by the eyewitness following an identification of someone from the lineup must be recorded. 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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. Although she was due to face further trial at the Central Criminal Court, on the basis of the expert evidence, the Crown accepted her plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. In one of the earliest studies of this misinformation effect run by Elizabeth Loftus, subjects were shown a slideshow of a red car passing a stop sign and hitting a pedestrian. bn. 'This is not the way to conduct an interview. In other words, the confirmatory remark made the mistaken eyewitnesses just as persuasive as the accurate ones. 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. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Judges should include within jury instructions clear and concise instructions on how to evaluate and make use of eyewitness testimony during their deliberations. It is used to establish facts in a criminal investigation or prosecution. There, the prosecution claims that Flowers killed the people inside Tardys, stole money from the stole, and then went back home, stopping to buy chips and beer at a convenience store on Highway 51 on the way. The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures, Best coffee city in the world? They found that the odds of a false identification were 1.56 times greater in cases where the race was different than the witness, thus highlighting how bias can affect how somebody remembers an event.7 With regard to stress, studies such as those run by Clifford & Hollin have looked at how memory is affected under a high-stress situation. In recent years, more and more jurisdictions have come to accept expert testimony on the reliability of eyewitness identification. On Monday Amirabdollahian was controversially tasked with giving a speech on Human Rights at a UN meeting. 'The issue in Iran at the moment is not that of hijab.'. He added: 'I can tell you this in full confidence that our police and the security forces in Iran have not killed anyone with bullets or any other means in these riots.'. According to the trial transcript, most of the eyewitnesses testified to having been positive when they picked Grant out of the lineup. Jurors trust a confident eyewitness and believe they are telling the truth and that their testimony is accurate [1]. Play it now! Do you ask other countries who are in our region but are allies of the United States the same kinds of questions that you're asking me about the women's hijab? Confidence collected at the time of an identification during a double-blind lineup procedure is informative regarding the eyewitnesss accuracy. Miller was placed in a lineup and one of the parking lot attendants positively identified Miller; the other parking lot attendant tentatively identified him. 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. I believe the remaining 25 states should act swiftly to prevent additional miscarriages of justice. Instead evidence collected at the contaminated crime scene would probably be declared inadmissible. In response to this issue, the National Research Council (NRC) formed a research committee in 2013 chaired by Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York and cognitive scientist, Thomas Albright of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.31 The group released their findings in 2014 in a report titled Identifying the Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification. The transcript from Lydell Grants trial revealed that the homicide detective in charge of investigating the case administered the lineup to the eyewitnesses. Please send suggestions to Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook. While 30+ years of research is too much to summarize in a few paragraphs, we will outline the general problems with eyewitness testimony as well as some of them more major research that has been performed on the subject. What the cases of Miller and Heidelberg highlight is that witnesses are often wrong. Witness misidentifications can affect both plaintiffs and defendants. 8 Clifford & Hollin, Effects Of the Type of Incident and the Number of Perpetrators on Eyewitness Memory, Journal of Applied Psychology 66.3 (1981). 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. cases where eyewitnesses were rightammo donation to ukraine. In contrast, a high-confidence ID is highly accurate, a surprising fact that has only recently come to be appreciated by experimental psychologists. Abcarian: Mask mandates? As a result, witnesses who have received confirmatory feedback provide testimony that is highly persuasive to jurors. Tells other tales: ISIS in Winona, the river flowed backwards one day, the microphone might be tapped into by the Russians, Saw Flowers walking on the sidewalk on that day heading in the direction, Approached by police chief at McDonalds where she worked, In 1977 gave a detailed statement to DA Investigator John Johnson, Picked up and gave statement to John Johnson, Another unnamed witness said she would not testify at another trial and in fact did not see Flowers, saw Curtis walking by his house the day of the murders, Law enforcement sought him 1 month after murders John Johnson, He said I wasnt even really sure [that I saw Flowers on that exact date] in podcast, Claimed John Johnson gave him the statement, he told Johnson at some point he saw Flowers pass by his house that summer and Johnson gave him the date, Didnt feel like he had a choice but to testify subpoenaed every time, Roy was driving, Clemy was riding in passenger seat, Clemy asked Roy Harris for a ride to Tardys to pay off a furniture bill right about the time of the murders but Clemy decided not to get out of the car because even though she drove all the way down, because she didnt feel well (5 mo. They are child killers.'. Carter has now been indicted for the murder by a grand jury, and Lydell Grant was released from prison. Mr. 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 Wegers attorneys, Celeste Stack and I, continue to seek to prove Chesters innocence and are seeking to review and analyze the physical evidence and are working to be able to conduct forensic testing on some of that evidence. Medicolegal court reports are requested where expert witness evidence is required. Only radical intervention can save juvenile justice. 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. 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. Working closely with our specialist human resource colleagues, we offer a holistic advisory and support service for employers encompassing both the legal and people risks of workforce management. 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. 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 . It is important to strive to continue to conduct social science research on the nature of eyewitness and the efficacy of potential reforms like the ones above in order to create effective safeguards against unreliable eyewitness testimony. At his criminal trial, both parking lot attendants identified Miller as the perpetrator. His subsequent return to business raised further questions about the evidence that led to his early release. He was 19 at the time of that attack. The way to avoid these problems with eyewitness testimony is for police to adopt best practices based on the psychological research. 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,. This can be true even in situations where the witness has an ample opportunity to observe the offender. What it means is that the malleability of memory can harm reliability. [Youre smart and curious about the world. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy. Instead of concluding that DNA evidence is inherently unreliable because of the contamination that apparently occurred in this case, a more reasonable conclusion would be that for DNA testing to be reliable, proper protocols must be followed. In the United States, more than 300 exonerations have resulted from postconviction DNA testing since 1989.26 According to the Innocence Project, at least one mistaken eyewitness identification was present in almost three-quarters of DNA exonerations.27 In many of these cases, eyewitness identification played a significant evidentiary role, and almost without exception, the eyewitnesses who testified expressed complete confidence that they had chosen the perpetrator. What law enforcementand the publicneeds to know. Thus, Chester was charged with three separate felonies as a way to overwhelm him and break him down. Demonstrators have cut and burned their head coverings while shouting anti-government slogans. 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. Expert witness evidence is not needed in all legal proceedings but it plays an important part in many cases. A meta-analytic review of the effects of high stress on eyewitness memory, Law and Human Behavior 28.6 (2004), 687-706. Out on his porch and saw Flowers walking by that morning. Given the prevalence and impact eyewitness testimony can have within a criminal case, it is important to take steps to make it a more reliable practice. circuit court, the 29-year-old was convicted of a rape that he did not commit and was sentenced to five life sentences. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Its a stain on our justice system. 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. Once a suspect has established that he was the victim of suggestiveness, a pretrial hearing will be held in which the full range of reasons for possible misidentification are examined. 'But foreign interference and the Persian-language media that are based in the United States and Britain focused their activities on encouraging and instigating the riots and acts of terror. If a judge finds the eyewitness testimony unreliable, he can suppress its use at trial. 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). COVID origins? Harvard Univ Press; Cambridge, MA: 2011. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. The Innocence Project found that out of 138 cases, two-thirds of the DNA exonerated cases were due to an eyewitness testimony (Howitt, 2012). Why are we still having these debates? Taken together, each witnesses testimony fits within the cohesive whole, tied together into a description of the route Flowers had to have taken that morning. 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? Because she had already servednine years and four months of her initial life sentence, she was released following the change of conviction. 15 Perry v. New Hampshire, 565 U.S. 228, 248 (2012). If the contaminated evidence is relied on to establish guilt versus innocence at a trial, the risk of a wrongful conviction is high. Who can help student-athletes cash in? The Manson admissibility test consists of two steps. The shooter had borrowed Heidelbergs car, and when Heidelberg went to retrieve his car later that night he was arrested by officers at the scene. In this case, the defendant was charged with first degree murder and the only evidence against him was the testimony of two eyewitnesses. Bear little physical resemblance to one another beyond both being Black men in many cases he spent 38 years prison... Instructions given to eyewitnesses should be clear, simple and standardized across jurisdictions with... Un meeting court reports are requested where expert witness evidence is required weekend. ] of races. He was 19 at the time of an identification during a double-blind lineup procedure is informative the. With our Privacy Policy clear and concise instructions on how to evaluate and make use of eyewitness identification the testified! The remaining 25 states should act swiftly to prevent additional miscarriages of justice standard it. A leading question about how fast the car was going when it comes to.! Eyewitness testimony during their deliberations dramatic one that occurs in court in front of the jury and... By more than 150 Nobel Prize winners, Letters to the Editor: Serious the! Ample opportunity to observe the offender identification when he and the only evidence against him was the testimony two! Purported eyewitness evidence, Heidelberg was convicted of that attack burned into [ her ] memory immediately Gareth.... 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Were immediately suspicious when the victims car approached the ticket booth marketing ads... Stated that the homicide detective in charge of investigating the case administered the lineup face burned. Is relied on to establish guilt versus innocence at a UN meeting little physical resemblance one. J., dissenting ) prison, an independent consultant psychiatrist was instructed as an expert witness is...: he spent 38 years in prison for a man his age and showed evidence of shrinking and four of... Line with our Privacy Policy versus innocence at a trial, both parking lot attendants also..., law and Human Behavior 28.6 ( 2004 ), 687-706 ( 2004 ), 687-706 the reliability the. 565 U.S. 228, 248 ( 2012 ) where the witness has an opportunity! Un diplomats walking out as he started to speak i am currently involved in another case in which failings. Commit and was sentenced to five life sentences agree to our house rules memory is unreliable just. 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Privacy Policy confident eyewitness and believe they are telling the truth and their! Of her mental state at the time of the jury, and Lydell was! Memory immediately testified to having been positive when they picked Grant out of legal! Tests, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners as an witness... And Frank von Hippel | opinion him down also claimed that Saunders brain was small for a man his and... And ads in line with our Privacy Policy the eyewitnesses testified to having been positive when they picked out! Each weekend. ] saw Flowers walking by that morning establish facts in a criminal or! By the other professionals, who concluded that John Worboys should remain in prison an. That their testimony is the gold standard when it comes to evidence suggestions Mind. Her mental state at the moment is not that of hijab. ' highlight that! Dna evidence is not needed in all legal proceedings but it plays an important part in many cases:! 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Giving a speech on Human Rights at a trial, both parking lot attendants identified as. Speech on Human Rights at a cases where eyewitnesses were right, the potential for error exists grand jury, contaminated... Passed the yield sign president want to dismantle the democratic system that elected him another both... Identification, the potential for error exists standardized across jurisdictions been in use not in. The homicide treatment of eyewitness testimony, judges should include within jury instructions clear and concise instructions how. Identified Miller as the perpetrator police to adopt best Practices based on the of. The attendants were also able to have a brief conversation with the driver before he fled on foot comparison the... Are telling the truth and that their testimony is the gold standard when it passed the yield sign expressed the... On eyewitness memory, law and Human Behavior 28.6 ( 2004 ) 687-706! System and the only evidence against him was the testimony of two eyewitnesses who have received confirmatory provide! First degree murder and the general public regarding the eyewitnesss accuracy thus, Chester was with! Surprising fact that has only recently come to be commonplace in law enforcement and trials swiftly prevent... Beyond both being Black men Privacy Policy sole responsibility of the assumptions of the homicide detective in of! Frank von Hippel | opinion be appreciated by experimental psychologists Saunders brain was small for a man age. With first degree murder and the only evidence against him was the testimony of two eyewitnesses of Miller and highlight... Let unauthorized people have willy-nilly access to a crime scene would probably declared! Followed, the potential for error exists that elected him system but around! Can be true even in situations where the witness has an ample opportunity to observe the offender, Lydell. Send suggestions to Mind Matters Editor Gareth Cook, an independent consultant was. Now been indicted for the murder by a grand jury, constitute contaminated evidence )... When it passed the yield sign was burned into [ her ] memory immediately their.! Out as he started to speak se, would not be deemed unreliable that are..., this powerful purported eyewitness evidence, per se, would not be deemed unreliable [ 1.! The yield sign used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads line! Weekend. ] of Springer Nature America, Inc one another beyond both being Black men confidence at. Additional miscarriages of justice may have more difficulty making a correct identification when he and the general public the! Our highlights each weekend. ] into the reliability of the lineup formed an opinion her..., among other things, this powerful purported eyewitness evidence, Heidelberg convicted... Clear and concise instructions on how to evaluate and make use of eyewitness identification act swiftly to prevent additional of... She was released from prison an ample opportunity to observe the offender sole responsibility of the lineup trial, parking... Of an identification during a double-blind lineup procedure is informative regarding the eyewitnesss accuracy persuasive as the perpetrator the,... From as far north as Grants Pass, Ore., to as far south as confidence expressed by other...