Eyewitness Identification

One day about 30 years ago at the Bucks County Courthouse, a young public defender named Clyde W. Waite dropped in on a robbery trial, slipping quietly into the back row just as the victim was recounting the crime. Yes, she told the jury, the robber was present. Could she identify him for the courtroom? the prosecutor asked. Without hesitation, the woman pointed, but not to the man at the defense table. Her finger was aimed at the rear seats, and a very surprised Clyde Waite.

It's apparently more difficult for persons of one race to make an accurate eyewitness identification of a person of another race, even when the eyewitness is a cop, a federal case suggests. The case involved three African-American Pennsylvania state troopers who had arrested a Korean woman six days after each of them had purchased a bogus identification card in a store where she worked in West Philadelphia. Meeyong Heekim Kim sold jewelry in a section of the store which had been leased by her husband, and was the only Asian woman in the shop when the troopers returned to make the arrest.

O'Neil Bryan was fingered by a stranger of a different race who saw him in the dark for a few seconds. It's no surprise that the witness turned out to be wrong and that Bryan was acquitted, an expert on eyewitness identification said yesterday. "All of these factors contribute to having witnesses make mistakes," said Elizabeth Loftus, author of four books on eyewitness testimony and a cognitive psychologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. Other factors include the stress and fright the witness is experiencing, she said.

The science of DNA on Monday cleared the 200th person wrongfully convicted of a crime in the United States, a record which demands that the criminal justice system fix its serious flaws. The details of Jerry Miller's unjust imprisonment should no longer shock anyone. He was convicted of rape in Chicago in 1982, based on erroneous eyewitness identification. Miller spent 25 years in prison, proclaiming his innocence. He was already out on parole when DNA evidence finally proved he was innocent.

McKinley Cromedy spent five years behind bars in New Jersey after a rape victim testified she was certain he was the one who attacked her. Cromedy's lawyer questioned the ability of the woman, who is white, to differentiate among black men like the defendant, but the jury convicted Cromedy on the strength of the victim's memory. DNA eventually showed he didn't do it, and the New Jersey Supreme Court responded with a bold move: It ordered trial judges across the state to instruct juries about the difficulties of cross-racial identification.

TRENTON - New Jersey's highest court ordered changes Wednesday to the way eyewitness identifications are used, saying the current system is not reliable enough, fails to deter police misconduct, and overstates jurors' ability to evaluate evidence. The case is expected to influence the way eyewitness identification of suspects is handled, and not just in New Jersey. The ruling is being closely watched because New Jersey has long been at the forefront in identification standards.

It's no surprise that a purse-snatch victim's testimony was enough to convict Kareem Robinson of robbery. Nor is it a surprise that it appears to have been wrong. "Mistaken witness identifications are very convincing to a jury because the victims have no motive to lie," said Jack King, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "Unfortunately, it's the least-reliable testimony. " Studies show that eyewitnesses are even less reliable when the victim and suspect are different races.

It's a four-word comment that could rank in the racism hall of fame, a line so loaded with meaning that people of all colors have turned it into an insult, a joke, a cliche, and even the subject of sociological study: "They all look alike. " Now, it's part of New Jersey law. The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that trial judges must, in certain cross-racial cases, tell juries before deliberation that people of one race may have difficulty accurately recalling or identifying an individual of another race - a tendency demonstrated by many sociological studies going back at least four decades, it said.

New Jersey is already a national leader when it comes to guarding against the misidentification of suspects in crimes. But a report ordered by the state Supreme Court is calling for even more steps to help prevent innocent suspects from being wrongly convicted. The recommendations are good ones that should be implemented. They will further signal that New Jersey is a state that really cares about getting criminal verdicts right, and not sending innocent people to prison. Pennsylvania's court and law enforcement officials should take a look at what New Jersey is doing and try to replicate these best practices.

He had been up all night working on a school project after returning from a winning track meet against Princeton the day before. Penn track star O'Neil Bryan - the Ivy League champion in the 60-meter high hurdles and an economics major - was dog-tired, drifting off to sleep. He ignored the 8:30 a.m. knock on his dormitory door. Finally, the door swung open and four cops stepped inside. Bryan, 20, a junior from Long Island, N.Y., jumped up. "We have to arrest you," said one of the cops.

One day about 30 years ago at the Bucks County Courthouse, a young public defender named Clyde W. Waite dropped in on a robbery trial, slipping quietly into the back row just as the victim was recounting the crime. Yes, she told the jury, the robber was present. Could she identify him for the courtroom? the prosecutor asked. Without hesitation, the woman pointed, but not to the man at the defense table. Her finger was aimed at the rear seats, and a very surprised Clyde Waite.

TRENTON - New Jersey's highest court ordered changes Wednesday to the way eyewitness identifications are used, saying the current system is not reliable enough, fails to deter police misconduct, and overstates jurors' ability to evaluate evidence. The case is expected to influence the way eyewitness identification of suspects is handled, and not just in New Jersey. The ruling is being closely watched because New Jersey has long been at the forefront in identification standards.

Kenneth Granger spent 28 years behind bars after he was convicted of murdering a North Philadelphia taproom cook, but he always maintained his innocence. On Wednesday, in a rare move, Granger was released from a life sentence, and his lawyers said it took until last year to get evidence from police and prosecution files that could have helped clear him in 1982. "Words cannot capture the magnitude of this moment," said Granger, 52, smiling broadly and surrounded by family members outside the Criminal Justice Center.

New Jersey is already a national leader when it comes to guarding against the misidentification of suspects in crimes. But a report ordered by the state Supreme Court is calling for even more steps to help prevent innocent suspects from being wrongly convicted. The recommendations are good ones that should be implemented. They will further signal that New Jersey is a state that really cares about getting criminal verdicts right, and not sending innocent people to prison. Pennsylvania's court and law enforcement officials should take a look at what New Jersey is doing and try to replicate these best practices.

McKinley Cromedy spent five years behind bars in New Jersey after a rape victim testified she was certain he was the one who attacked her. Cromedy's lawyer questioned the ability of the woman, who is white, to differentiate among black men like the defendant, but the jury convicted Cromedy on the strength of the victim's memory. DNA eventually showed he didn't do it, and the New Jersey Supreme Court responded with a bold move: It ordered trial judges across the state to instruct juries about the difficulties of cross-racial identification.

The science of DNA on Monday cleared the 200th person wrongfully convicted of a crime in the United States, a record which demands that the criminal justice system fix its serious flaws. The details of Jerry Miller's unjust imprisonment should no longer shock anyone. He was convicted of rape in Chicago in 1982, based on erroneous eyewitness identification. Miller spent 25 years in prison, proclaiming his innocence. He was already out on parole when DNA evidence finally proved he was innocent.

O'Neil Bryan was fingered by a stranger of a different race who saw him in the dark for a few seconds. It's no surprise that the witness turned out to be wrong and that Bryan was acquitted, an expert on eyewitness identification said yesterday. "All of these factors contribute to having witnesses make mistakes," said Elizabeth Loftus, author of four books on eyewitness testimony and a cognitive psychologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. Other factors include the stress and fright the witness is experiencing, she said.

He had been up all night working on a school project after returning from a winning track meet against Princeton the day before. Penn track star O'Neil Bryan - the Ivy League champion in the 60-meter high hurdles and an economics major - was dog-tired, drifting off to sleep. He ignored the 8:30 a.m. knock on his dormitory door. Finally, the door swung open and four cops stepped inside. Bryan, 20, a junior from Long Island, N.Y., jumped up. "We have to arrest you," said one of the cops.

It's no surprise that a purse-snatch victim's testimony was enough to convict Kareem Robinson of robbery. Nor is it a surprise that it appears to have been wrong. "Mistaken witness identifications are very convincing to a jury because the victims have no motive to lie," said Jack King, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "Unfortunately, it's the least-reliable testimony. " Studies show that eyewitnesses are even less reliable when the victim and suspect are different races.

It's a four-word comment that could rank in the racism hall of fame, a line so loaded with meaning that people of all colors have turned it into an insult, a joke, a cliche, and even the subject of sociological study: "They all look alike. " Now, it's part of New Jersey law. The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that trial judges must, in certain cross-racial cases, tell juries before deliberation that people of one race may have difficulty accurately recalling or identifying an individual of another race - a tendency demonstrated by many sociological studies going back at least four decades, it said.