How to Challenge an Eyewitness Identification

Eyewitness testimony may sound like it would be the perfect way for someone to make their case in a court trial. However, eyewitness testimony can prove misleading and difficult to follow clearly. Some eyewitnesses may not be sure about what they saw or may have mistaken impressions or opinions that can distort the way they recall an event. Are you defending yourself against a witness misidentification? A criminal defense lawyer can help provide you with the support you need to challenge eyewitness identifications. 

What Constitutes an Eyewitness Identification?

Eyewitness identification can come in three different forms. Law enforcement often uses these different forms of eyewitness identification in synergy to further support bringing criminal charges against someone. 

Lineup

In a lineup, the eyewitness will attempt to pick the suspect out of a group of random people. 

Field Identification

Field identification occurs when a witness can specifically point out a suspect at the scene of the criminal offense in question. Field identifications may also help rule out those who could not have committed the offense. 

Photographic Lineup

Sometimes, witnesses will not come in to look at the suspect in a lineup. Instead, the witness may look through photographs to identify or rule out a possible suspect. 

Has Law Enforcement Put the Testimony in Writing?

In order to use eyewitness testimony as evidence, law enforcement officers will need to put that testimony in writing. Writing down a witness’s testimony can serve as essential evidence. Writing it down can also help clarify the sequence of events and make it easier for law enforcement officers to get a full picture of what happened at the scene of the incident. Furthermore, writing it down helps protect the integrity of the memory, since witnesses can lose track of those memories over time.

How Important Is Eyewitness Testimony in Convictions? 

Juries often find eyewitness testimony highly compelling and believable, despite the fact that eyewitness memory can often prove unreliable. The memory of an event can fade quickly, making it difficult for eyewitnesses to effectively recall everything that took place. Traumatic events, including witnessing a violent crime, can actually increase the odds that a witness’s memory will fade. 

Recently, more criminal justice experts have begun to worry about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony and how it can impact case outcomes. Gary L. Wells, Ph.D., of Iowa State University, notes that more than 70% of all DNA exoneration cases involved mistaken eyewitness testimony. Despite this, many cases continue to rely on the testimony of potentially unreliable witnesses. 

How Was Eyewitness Testimony Verified?

In order to establish eyewitness testimony as part of the evidence for a case, law enforcement officers must follow strict procedures in order to provide the highest possible level of accuracy. 

What Procedures Were Followed?

Law enforcement officers may need to:

• Obtain and verify the identity of the eyewitness. They will need to establish that the eyewitness does not have any reason to provide inaccurate or misleading testimony. 
• Seek out any other witnesses in the area. Having more than one eyewitness can make it much easier to credibly establish evidence. 
• Separate witnesses until they have the chance to give their testimony. Separation can prevent them from discussing the event and potentially contaminating each other’s testimony.

Law enforcement officers may also need to be careful about how they obtain information from an eyewitness. For example, they need to make sure that they ask open-ended questions, do not lead the witness to make specific statements based on what law enforcement officers might already think about the incident, and clarify information with the witness. 

Was the Verification Recorded on Video?

Recording a video of the original witness testimony can make it much easier to clearly establish what the witness said, including how the witness presented any information to the law enforcement officers. If the witness was not recorded or recorded long after the incident took place, the eyewitness identification may not hold as much weight. 

The Leading Cause of Wrongful Conviction 

Eyewitness identification remains the leading cause of wrongful conviction in courtrooms across the United States. One example is the case of Mr. Romeo Phillion, who spent 31 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. A previously lost police report presented in the Court of Appeals provided an alibi for Romeo and resulted in overturning the conviction. The victim’s wife, Mildred, had mistakenly identified Romeo because she felt he looked like the man who killed her husband. Unfortunately, mishandling of evidence, including the failure to confirm eyewitness testimony, led to Romeo being sent to prison for that crime. 

Romeo is not the only man to have ended up in prison for a crime he did not commit, often as a result of mistaken eyewitness testimony. Increasingly, law enforcement officers and lawyers are questioning the reliability of such testimony, leaving them to find other ways of securing evidence. 

Working to Challenge Eyewitness Identification

An eyewitness who identifies a suspect may have a number of reasons for failing to clearly identify the suspect. Eyewitnesses can suffer from trauma, making it difficult to remember exactly who was involved. The eyewitness may not have gotten a clear look at the suspect. They may not even have a clear memory of the event. 

Eyewitnesses often want to help. However, inaccurate testimony can worsen the situation by muddying the waters of an investigation, making it more difficult to tell exactly what happened. Challenging eyewitness identifications can result in having that evidence removed from the court record, which may lead to a clearer understanding of what actually took place at the time of the crime. 

If you need to challenge eyewitness identification or other witness testimony, a criminal defense lawyer can help. A criminal defense lawyer can determine whether the law enforcement officers who collected testimony failed to follow proper procedure, if the witness is unreliable, or if other testimony contradicts the information they’ve provided. By challenging that testimony, an attorney can get erroneous evidence thrown out, which can help improve the outcome of a case for many defendants.