Forensic Science As A Defense Against Eyewitness Testimony

Forensic Science As A Defense Against Eyewitness Testimony CROSS CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS CRIME SCENE

• Eyewitness Video

Eyewitnesses…Good thing or Bad thing?

• Q. (By attorney cross-examining expert witness): When there is no eye-witness to an event, physical evidence takes on great importance, does it not? • A. Not nearly as great as the importance it takes on when there is an eye witness. – Exchange at trial of Gayle et al. v City of New York et al. , in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Kings, December, 1999, Index 15484/87.

Is Eyewitness Testimony Undependable? Let Me Count The Ways That It Is Demonstrably Undependable. Yet, It Continues To Be Given Great Evidentiary Weight In Fact, In The Absence Of Physical Evidence, Eyewitness Testimony RULES - False Accounts Of Accidents And Crimes Become Accepted Truths; Innocent People Are Imprisoned

Eyewitness Testimony • Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, • More than 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing.

Things are not always this easy!

Mistaken Eyewitness Identification United States 1985 Innocent man wrongly convicted Composite sketch based on victim’s memory Actual rapist

What is? 1+5 2+4 3+3 Name a vegetable

• Hi From Chicago!

Observational Error B A Which is True? A=B A>B A<B CHE 113 18

Observational Error B A Which is True? A=B A>B A<B CHE 113 19

THE ANSWER B A Which is True? A=B A>B A<B CHE 113 20

Different Perceptions • • • Cloud Shapes Ink Blots Do you feel that you’re being followed? Jesus’ Image UFOs Messages in Rock

'God' and Angel in Photograph of Clouds Over Cape Coral, Florida http: //www. huffingtonpost. com/fionafinn/god-seen-in-photographof_b_5666269. html

What do we see in moon? • • USA=Man in Moon Samoans= woman weaving Chinese=monkey pounding rice East Indians=rabbit

What is written? Red Blue Red Green

What is written? Blue Yellow Red Green

What is written? Red Blue Green Red

What is written? Yellow Green Red Yellow

What do you see?

What do you see?

What do you see?

Poor Judgments • What are the chances of 2 people at a party of 23 to have same birthday? • 50: 50 • Have you thought of someone and then they phoned? • Supernatural or Paranormal Beliefs

Minimize the Harm Done by Faulty Eyewitness Evidence: Take Care Not To Contaminate The Witness

Perceptual Problem • Depth Perception: – Ba Mbuti Tribe thought distant buffalo was an insect

Perception Problem • Low light conditions – Rookie chasing a perp – Making judgments – Perp pulls out something

Police officers sometimes shoot unarmed suspects in error. The majority, about 71%, occur at night under poor visibility conditions. In one common scenario, a suspect suddenly produces an object in his hand.

The officer, believing the object to be a weapon, fires at the suspect. The officer then approaches, only to see that "gun" was actually something as innocuous as a driver's license or wallet.

Perceptual Problem • Power of Expectation

INTEGRITY OF THE VERDICT http: //www. innocenceproject. o rg/ POST CONVICTION RELIEF