. Because she had already servednine years and four months of her initial life sentence, she was released following the change of conviction. 109, 10910 (2006). You can get our highlights each weekend.]. A full and fair examination of all the circumstances of the subject crime, and all the evidence involved, is necessary. Instead evidence collected at the contaminated crime scene would probably be declared inadmissible. Yet, based on, among other things, this powerful purported eyewitness evidence, Heidelberg was convicted. Laura Mickes is an academic at Royal Holloway, University of London. Judges should include within jury instructions clear and concise instructions on how to evaluate and make use of eyewitness testimony during their deliberations. Read through our advertising and sponsorship rates and contact us. The transcript from Lydell Grants trial revealed that the homicide detective in charge of investigating the case administered the lineup to the eyewitnesses. Most of these witnesses personally knew Flowers, and many had grown up with him, lived in his same neighborhood. 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. 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. Renowned Expert witnesses include doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and other professionals who are instructed to give expert opinions in legal proceedings. Its a fact that eyewitnesses make mistakes. In one clip an unidentified Iranian woman can be heard saying: 'They are without shame and should be embarrassed. First, the judge must determine whether the procedure used by law enforcement officials in obtaining the proffered eyewitness identification (e.g., photographic array or lineup) was unnecessarily suggestive.11 The judge must then weigh this determination against the following five factors to assess the reliability of the identification: In practice, therefore, the test is flexible. 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. No comments have so far been submitted. University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett analyzed trial materials for 161 DNA exonerated individuals who had been misidentified with high confidence by one or more eyewitnesses in a court of law. Why are we still having these debates? 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. But there is more to the story. The same is true of eyewitness memory: memory can be contaminated with the trace of an innocent person, but under proper testing conditions, eyewitness evidence is highly reliable. Published: 00:56 EST, 2 March 2023 | Updated: 01:01 EST, 2 March 2023. John Wixted is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. He claimed police did not have the power to use firearms in the riots. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Assistant Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University. Juries are particularly prone to being swayed by eyewitness testimony, as evidenced in the Curtis Flowers case. (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.). And third, the confidence expressed by the eyewitness following an identification of someone from the lineup must be recorded. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Editorial: He spent 38 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit. Instructing an expert witness is not unusualthere are many much-publicised cases where the role of expert evidence has been significant. 6 Wells, Memon, Penrod, Eyewitness Evidence: Improving Its Probative Value, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, (2006). Continue reading with a Scientific American subscription. 'The issue in Iran at the moment is not that of hijab.'. Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, attorneys, and jurors need to realize that just because a witness says so does not make it so. Miller was placed in a lineup and one of the parking lot attendants positively identified Miller; the other parking lot attendant tentatively identified him. 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). Last updated: 27 February 2023. During the tense interview, Amirabdollahian claimed Mahsa Amini - the 22-year-old who died after being arrested by morality police for failing to wear the hijab - was turned into a 'symbol' by protesters. John Worboys was given an indeterminate prison sentence. In 2009, he was charged with assaulting 12 women. 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. 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 ability of a person who witnesses a crime to later pick the perpetrator out of a lineup is atrociousright? Thirty Years of DNA Forensics: How DNA Has Revolutionized Criminal Investigations. CEN RSS, Chemical and Engineering News, 18 Sept. 2017. Finally, almost a year later, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared Grant actually innocent on May 19, 2021. He served 47 years in prison before his conviction was vacated in 2018. Who can help student-athletes cash in? 21 Commonwealth v. Walker, 625 Pa. 450, 47678 (2014). Knowledge awaits. But faith in eyewitnesses runs so deep that despite the overwhelming proof of Grants innocence, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals initially refused his exoneration request. John Worboys worked as a cab driver and was charged with sexually assaulting several of his female passengers. 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,. It turns out, back in 1998, just days after the crime, the NYPD had a main suspect for the murder of Al Ward: a man named Mustafa. 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. In one study, people playing the role of jurors were able to reliably distinguish between accurate and mistaken eyewitnesses when the witnesses had not received any confirmatory feedback. His offences led to him being named the black cab rapist by the UK press. Another way is through the misinformation effect, where something occurs between the event and the reporting of the event to muddy or confuse the witness. Ernest Saunders only served 10 months of his sentence before being released. To do this, proper testing protocols that reduce chances of contamination need to be followed. The Innocence Project found that out of 138 cases, two-thirds of the DNA exonerated cases were due to an eyewitness testimony (Howitt, 2012). Judges should continue to allow expert testimony from social scientists on the general reliability of eyewitness testimony, so that jurors are informed about the strengths and weaknesses of eyewitness testimony as a practice. John Worboyss victims alleged that he assaulted them after offering them champagne which he had spiked with drugs. This created an inherent bias that made the lineup unfair, and likely affected the victims subsequent identification. There have been many famous expert witness cases. I must also add that Chester Weger also CONFESSED to the 1959 Matthiessen State Park rape/robbery but was never brought to trial (he already had received a life sentence for murder) to avoid putting the TEENAGED female victim on the witness stand. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. Ultimately, eyewitness testimony is a powerful tool that has the potential to make or break a case. There are a few ways in which eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate. In 2011, Sally Challen was convicted of murdering her husband before Guildford Crown Court. 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. Nationally, more than 75% of convictions that have been overturned because of DNA evidence involved erroneous eyewitness testimony. Attributing that error to the unreliability of eyewitness memory is, in our view, pointing the finger of blame in the wrong direction. 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. The shooter wound up crashing the car and escaping on foot. One of my clients, Cleve Heidelberg, was convicted in 1970 of killing a Peoria County, Ill., sheriffs deputy who was responding to a call about an armed robbery at a drive-in movie theatre. Laura Smalarz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Even if he allows it, he will have to instruct the jury about the variables that can lead to misidentification. Mr. By itself, that fact only shows that contaminated memory is unreliable (just as contaminated DNA evidence is). Assessing confidence is critical because it provides direct information about the trustworthiness of the uncontaminated ID. They were then asked a leading question about how fast the car was going when it passed the yield sign. Its a stain on our justice system. This decision attracted intense media attention and was seen to be a controversial decision due to the nature and severity of his offences. 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. As an experimental psychologist who conducts research on eyewitness identification, Ive seen hundreds of examples of highly confident yet mistaken eyewitnesses both in the laboratory and in actual court cases. In reviewing the case, it is more than apparent that the convicted man had motive, opportunity and means to commit this crime. Are you a scientist who specializes in neuroscience, cognitive science, or psychology? Subsequent memory tests, including the dramatic one that occurs in court in front of the jury, constitute contaminated evidence. She questioned the statistical basis of Professor Meadows evidence, which had led to Sally Clark being sentenced to life in prison. Videos circulating on Twitter appeared to show dozens of UN diplomats walking out as he started to speak. Document Witness Confidence and Videotape Witness Identifications. The way to avoid these problems with eyewitness testimony is for police to adopt best practices based on the psychological research. His subsequent return to business raised further questions about the evidence that led to his early release. by TCR Staff, The Crime Report May 24, 2021, This and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.. Declared Grant actually innocent on May 19, 2021 john Wixted is a powerful tool that has the potential make... Of hijab. 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