Question

Learning Objective: ​Summarize the issues regarding the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.Prompt:Imagine that you are an expert witness testifying in court regarding the accuracy of eyewitnesses. In this context, explain the misinformation effectand how it might lead an eyewitness to incorrectly recall the details of an event. ​Apply your response to an original example.

Answer 1

In the judiciary, an eyewitness plays an important role. An eyewitness is a person who claimed to have witnessed the crime happening with his own eyes and he was present at the crime scene. It makes an eyewitness a reliable source of information.

It is important that eyewitness is of sound mind and nit under the effect of alcohol or any other type of seductive medicine or drugs. A child can also become an eyewitness but she should not be given any suggestion only open-ended questions can be asked from the child.

There are numerous factors that can affect an eyewitness these can be as follows.

1.Anxiety and stress: It is fact that if someone sees a crime or violence happening he would develop anxiety and fear, it is possible that he may not recollect what he had witnessed accurately after few days when called an eyewitness.

2. Reconstructing the memory: It is important to note how much the witness can recollect events and there should not be any contradiction between the first statement given and the recollection of events.

It also depends on one's personal interpretation, his belief, and the cultural values one can be biased or can show stereotype hatred.

3. Focusing on the weapon: The weapon used in the crime is of great importance it is possible the person may not remember the weapon used out of fear and anxiety, by giving wrong information the offender gets released or an innocent can get caught.

4. The cross-question by the court: the jury can cross-question the witness to find out the authenticity of his claim. Any contradiction and doubt cannot be taken as reliable testimony.

Other than these factors it is important to know the eyesight of the witness whether he uses glasses or contact lenses, if yes, then was he wearing it or not?

How far was the witness from the crime scene?

Was it dark, foggy, rainy or the visibility was good means sunny so that he/she could see the feature of the offender.

If the eyewitness was far from the scene and visibility bad one cannot give a clear description of the offender or the weapon.

It is to be noted that recollecting memory may not be accurate. He may add his interpretation and belief.

The eyewitness testimony can be taken as real information if during the cross-examination he should be able to give the details as he had given before. It should be noted that the culprit is unknown to the witness. He should not have any personal grudge or bias towards the culprit.

If the witness gives wrong information it is a possibility that an innocent would be punished for no fault of him.

The example of a false eye witness case is the case of a rape victim, Ann Meng vs Julius Earl Ruffin. The incident had happened on December 5, 1981, she was 32 years old and a mother of three children by profession she was a  surgical technician.

On that fateful, day she had come home around midnight, her children were away and she was alone at home. She said she had the feeling that someone is at home; she searched the house and went to sleep, after 2 hours she felt someone leaning on her with a knife pressed to her throat. He closed her mouth with his hand. He was there for 45 minutes talking and threatening her. According to her, she had seen him clearly, collected the evidence. She did as he told her to do destroy all the evidence. While going he took away her ATM card $20.

To the police she gave whatever she remembered at that time according to her he was a dark skin man,  had hair on the sides of his face, approximately 5.11'' tall, and a strong smell of gasoline from his body. She had given whatever she remembered.

About six weeks later according to her she found him on an elevator; he was a maintenance worker with Eastern Virginia Medical School where she was working.

She confirmed him as her rapist, although he had all the evidence to prove that he was not there and he did not rape anyone. He was about 6 ft tall, dark skin, she said she recognized his voice, and she was sure that he was the victim. The second point was she was white and he was black.

That time there was no DNA testing only the blood group was tested, his blood group matched with the group of the offender collected from the scene.

Although he had proof and eye witness to testify his innocence the victim was 100 percent sure that he was the man. He was found guilty and sentenced to jail.

After 20 years with DNA testing, he was proved innocent and the real criminal was  Aaron Doxie, who was caught he was a convicted rapist.

There was no physical resemblance found between Aaron and Ruffin.

This is the case of wrong eye witness testimony.