At a Glance
Eyewitness testimony is an important part of criminal investigations.
How is it possible for an innocent person to be found guilty?
Is the eyewitness lying?
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
Could it be a case ofmistaken identity?
Would you be 100% certain that the person you think committed the crime is the real perpetrator?
What Is Eyewitness Testimony?
Aneyewitnessis typically avictimorbystanderwho was present at an event that is under criminal investigation.
A robbery, assault, or murder are just a few examples of these events.
While its role is complex, eyewitness testimony is a crucial part of the criminal justice system.
However, eyewitness testimony has a fatal flaw: it is not always accurate.
If a witness provides mistaken testimony, it can lead to a wrongful conviction.
Does Eyewitness Testimony Lead to Wrongful Convictions?
Eyewitness testimony is often the main lead in a criminal investigation.
If a case goes to trial, witnesses are often asked to appear in court.
At times, an entire criminal case is built on eyewitness reports.
Is DNA Evidence Better than Eyewitness Testimony?
In the 1980s, DNA evidence started to become more widely accessible to police during criminal investigations.
The first exoneration by DNA evidence took place in the United States in 1989.
Mistaken identification by eyewitnesses played a role in 61% of those wrongful convictions.
How Often Are Eyewitness Accounts Right?
Eyewitness testimony is still used in courtrooms and can be one of the most crucial aspects of a case.
They also need to be aware of the factors unique to eyewitnesses that can affect their memories.
A witness’s expectations about what they thinkshould havehappened can also influence their memory about whatactuallyhappened.
Eyewitnesses are generally motivated by a genuine desire tohelp solve the case.
The speed estimates the students gave were affected by the verb used to ask the question.
Some students were asked, How fast were the cars going when theyhit each other?
while others were asked, How fast were the cars going when theysmashed into one another?
In this way, an investigator’s “leading” question might affect how a witness recalls a crime.
Memory Contamination
Eyewitness memory is not set in stone and may change in response to outside information.
When a witness shares their memory of an event, others might be inclined to confirm it.
These inaccuracies in eyewitnesses' memories can lead to wrongful convictions.
Still, eyewitnesses are generally motivated by a genuine desire tohelp solve the case.
The more times that an eyewitness is questioned, the more likely it is that their memories willbecome contaminated.
Memory decay is also an issue with eyewitness testimony.
The effects of stress on eyewitness memory are particularly noticeable when a weapon is used.
Witnesses also tend topair the worst crimes with people with darker skin.
For less serious crimes, the witnesses were more likely to point to lighter-skinned individuals.
The “cross-race” effect has major implications for eyewitness testimony and the outcomes of criminal investigations.
Live lineups are also used.
Less often, an eyewitness will be shown a single photo and asked, Is this the perpetrator?
However, single photos produce less accurate results than lineups.
It’s not uncommon for an eyewitness to choose the person who best matches their memory of the perpetrator.
One group of students was instructedto choose the suspect from a lineup.
The suspect was only included in the lineup half the time.
The feedback a witness is given also makes a difference.
Don Ray Adams
In 1990, two men were murdered during a drug deal in Philadelphia.
Witnesses identified the suspect as a tall, light-skinned Black man who went by the name of Don Ray.
He was found guilty by the jury and sentenced to life in prison in 1992.
In 2007, the key witness recanted her testimony.
He was granted a retrial and acquitted.
Jernigan was arrested after the bank teller, Elizabeth Chlupsa, picked her photo out of a lineup.
Jernigan’s trial relied completely on eyewitness testimony, as there was no physical evidence.
Jernigans attorney believed she had been misidentified, but she was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
However, later that year, a woman named Juanita Rodriguez-Gallego robbed the same bank.
This time, the teller put a tracker in the money.
The tracker quickly led law enforcement to Rodriguez-Gallego.
After being charged, she pleaded guilty to only the firearm offensethe other charges were dropped.
In 2004, the first motion for a new trial was denied.
In 2008, Rodriguez-Gallego confessed to the previous robberiesincluding the one that Jernigan had been convicted of.
In 2008, the charges against Jernigan were dismissed, and she was released from prison.
In 2008, she sued for wrongful conviction, and the case was settled for $1 million.
In the second robbery, the victim was injured by the robbers knife.
The phone of one of the victims, Eli Eichner, was recovered not long after.
The other men in the lineup also had longer hair and were older than Boone.
The police only asked Boone to step forward and say, What time is it?
before asking Eichner if he could identify the robber.
Both Eichner and the other victim, Ben Zeitlin, identified Boone as the robber.
The trial convicted Boone, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
He appealed, and the sentence was reduced to 15 years.
Then, in 2017, the New York Court of Appeals decided to reverse Boones conviction.
Boone went to trial again in 2018.
Again, both victims identified him as the robber.
In 2019, Boone was acquitted.
He sued the city and the officers involved and settled for $200,000.
Informants told police that they believed a gang, Lawndale 13, was responsible for the murder.
There were two houses on the same lot, both of which were owned by Allene Mellen.
The informants told police that the house at the back of the lot was where Daly had been murdered.
Robert Mellen Jr., Allenes son, lived in the other house with his family.
However, several other occupants, including one of the gang members, occasionally stayed at the house.
Another member, Chad Landrum, was arrested and charged about a week later.
Of the three members the informant had mentioned, only one had yet to be arrested: Santo Alvarez.
Then, a woman named June Patti called the police and claimed to be a paralegal.
According to Patti, Daly was homeless and was found in Mellen’s house asleep on their couch.
The detectives next spoke to Pattis sister, Laura, who was a police officer.
Patti was currently on probation.
However, Lauras conversation with the detectives was never put on record.
Not long after, Susan Mellen was arrested and charged with Dalys murder.
The trial relied on June Pattis testimony, but the details of her account changed frequently.
Still, the jury convicted Mellen and she was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Both Mellen and Knocke were interviewed and took polygraphs that led investigators to believe they were being truthful.
In 2014, Alvarez started talking to Mellens nephew on social media, saying Mellen was innocent.
Then, one of the other suspects who was in prison said that Alvarez wasnt involved.
In the fall of 2014, a motion was filed to vacate Mellens conviction.
The court decided there was no evidence of Mellens guilt, and she was released from prison.
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