Eyewitness testimony? Don’t trust it!

There’s a powerful story in the New York Times today. It’s not about terrible tornadoes, it’s not about January 6 hearings...it’s about eyewitness inaccuracy. And it’s a very important read. 

Writers Corina Knoll, Karen Zraick and Alexandra Alter tell this sad story in-depth. In 1981, Anthony Broadwater was wrongly convicted of raping Alice Sebold, who is now a best-selling author. He served his full sentence. Today’s story explains how he was cleared, after decades of living in the shadow of a crime he didn’t commit. 

It’ll remind you of two speakers we had in our HFP lecture series, Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton, who co-authored the best seller Picking Cotton. Our audience was captivated by Jennifer’s riveting account of being raped as a college student, and sending Ronald Cotton to prison as the rapist whom she incorrectly identified. 

These two stories raise an incredibly important issue: Eyewitness error is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in 72% of convictions overturned through DNA testing. 

The problem is especially prevalent when authorities are dealing with different races. In fact, studies show that misidentifications by eyewitnesses, especially those that are cross-racial, make up a large percentage of erroneous convictions! 

My first experience with this was in my battle to help free Maurice Carter. In his trial, a secretary in a second-floor office down the street, identified Maurice as the man she saw running from the scene of the crime. This was interesting, because she had never met Maurice. Yet, while still watching from her second-story office window, she also saw the victim of the crime. It turns out that she knew the victim, yet she could not identify him!  Her testimony remained unchallenged, and Maurice went on to spend the next 29 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. 

Most wrongful convictions make the news because of DNA-based exonerations. But, according to the Innocence Project, DNA evidence only affects a fraction of criminal cases because it either doesn’t exist or is destroyed after the conviction. 

Prosecutors know darn well that eyewitness testimony can be persuasive evidence before a judge or jury. Yet, 30 years of strong social science research has proven that eyewitness identification is often unreliable. Research shows that the human mind is not like a tape recorder. We don’t record events exactly as we see them, nor do we recall them like a tape that has been rewound. 

Take the time to read the NYT account. 

Then wonder, with me, how many more Anthony Broadwaters and Ronald Cottons there are out there.



 

Comments

Ladyhawk said…
I remember hearing that presentation by the authors of _Picking Cotton_, and wondering what can be done to stop eyewitness accounts being the often sole basis for convictions, hard facts to the contrary. I remember, Doug, that you told about a man you attended his execution, and Jennifer Thompson told about one she witnessed - where the man was not even in the same state and had receipts to prove it, but was convicted by an "eyewitness". It isn't right. It hasn't been right for a long time. I urge people to read "Mistakes Were Made But Not By Me" by social psychologists, Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. I challenge them to read it. One finds out just how treacherous one's own mind can be. We need to be so careful even in little things, but especially when another's life is at stake. God will not hold guiltless the ones (prosecutors and sloppy detectives, too) who bear false witness against their neighbors!
December 16, 2021 at 4:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to contact the author, Mark
Read more