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Fri, Jan. 23rd, 2009, 02:24 pm
The Eyes Have It

Or in this case, not so much.

I just got done looking at something that illustrates the inaccuracy of eyewitness identification.  Without going into too much detail, someone is accused of running from the police, based on getting a license plate number, pulling up a driver's license picture, and the officer making a positive id from the photo.

Except - said accused was actually in custody at the time of the incident.  The case resulted in a dismissal once it was shown to the prosecutor, but the person has sat in jail for quite a while because of this error.

So even a relatively reliable eyewitness (i.e. a police officer, who supposedly has some training in observation and what not) can't be trusted, due to human fallibility, to make a good eyewitness id.  You decide how much you want to trust an eyewitness, if you're ever a juror.

That, or the cop was fudging it all along.  You decide . . .
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Fri, Jan. 23rd, 2009 08:34 pm (UTC)
[info]omglawdork

I am of the very strong opinion that single-photo "lineups" should be completely illegal. As an eyewitness, your mind is going to make the person in the picture look like the person you remember, no matter how hard you try. It's unconscionable to convict, or even hold people based on such a flawed ID system.

I trust eyewitnesses about as far as I can throw them.
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Fri, Jan. 23rd, 2009 11:02 pm (UTC)
[info]mr_noy

Considering that the falsely accused's defense was that he or she was already in jail at the time they were supposed to have been fleeing from the police I have to assume that the defendant already had a criminal record. Isn't it possible, even likely, that knowledge of the accused's criminal record influenced the officer while making the identification?

Of course, if the police bothered to pull up his or her record I would think that they might have noticed that he was already in jail. Or perhaps not. I don't know how long it takes for those records to reflect updates and changes in status.
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