I had a client named Mr. Wilson who was accused of robbing something like 16 different grocery stores and drug stores at gunpoint. The evidence against him was strong, but each one of the robberies needed to be investigated, because you never know when one that he didn't do might be thrown in by the investigating officer for good measure. And it's not unheard of for the cops to have gotten the wrong guy, even when the evidence appears so overwhelming on the front end. It's called having an open mind, and it's standard operating procedure for a criminal defense investigator. To clarify here, it doesn't mean we think our clients are all innocent. It means we're open to the possibility that they could be.One of the convenience store workers, a young guy of a different ethnicity than Mr. Wilson, had gone on and on, both in court and in my interview with him, about how he recognized Mr. Wilson from his eyes. He had gone to being 75 percent sure of his identification of Mr. Wilson when I interviewed him, to 90 percent sure once he got to court. Even stating, "I'll never forget those eyes." After this witness' preliminary hearing testimony, I was back in the holding cell with the client and the attorney. Mr. Wilson, a smart guy who in another life would have made a great family man as opposed to a career criminal, was totally beside himself. It's not my job to talk to clients about their guilt or innocence. Mr. Wilson, however, blurted out incredulously, "but Anita, I had dark glasses on the entire time. He would have never seen my eyes."
Welcome to the faulty world of witness identification, Mr. Wilson. Enter memory researcher, witness for the defense and friend of the misidentified, Elizabeth Loftus. She's written several books on witness identification, all available on amazon. I've only read Witness for the Defense, and one of her false memory book. She even autographed a copy for one of my incarcerated clients. It's his prize possession (she helped him escape a death sentence). She tells it better than I could ever do, so read this interview she gave as part of a Frontline show on a man who was wrongly identified and convicted of rape.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/interviews/loftus.html
Thanks to Jim Morrison and the Doors (of Perception) for my tag line. See you around.
2 comments:
Just wanted to say hello and thank you for your blog. I have worked as a defense investigator for about the past three years, mostly capital habeas appeals and now at a public defender's office, needless to say a big switch. Many of your posts, including this one about misid and the screen door one, really struck a few chords. Thanks again for the engaging reading and good luck on the streets.
thanks jb for the kind words. It's always nice to know there are other cdi's out there -- especially as I'm knocking on a door that never gets answered, despite hearing the TV and footsteps inside. Or having to miss dinner to try a witness for the umpteenth time. Please post again sometime.
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