ABSTRACT
The introduction of DNA testing procedures have shed further light on this the problems associated with evidence based on eyewitness memory (www. innocenceproject.org). DNA analysis has been conducted on people who were convicted prior to the introduction of forensic DNA analysis in the 1990s. These tests have resulted in the exoneration of people who were actually innocent of the crime for which they were convicted in the USA. Scheck et al. (2000) describe 62 exoneration cases (eight of those convicted were sentenced to death). In 52 of these 62 cases the conviction was directly a result of evidence from an eyewitness who was mistaken. In the most recent case, Thomas Doswell was released in August 2005 after serving 19 years in prison for a crime of which he was innocent. In March 1986, a white woman was the victim of a rape by an African American male as she entered the hospital where she worked. The victim was shown a line-up of photographs the day after the attack. Doswell’s was the only photo in the line-up that was marked with an ‘R’ and the police explained at trial that this was to represent that he had been previously charged with rape. The analysis of serum samples from a rape kit was inconclusive, so the jury who convicted Doswell relied heavily on the eyewitness identification from a faulty line-up. Also in August 2005, Luis Diaz was exonerated after serving 25 years for the ‘Bird Road’ rapes. Over 25 women were attacked in Florida and Diaz was arrested
after a highly publicised investigation. Multiple victims described their attacker as weighing approximately 200 pounds and as between 6’0 and 6’2 inches in height. At the time, Diaz weighed 134 pounds and was 5’3 inches tall. He worked as a fry cook and so smelled heavily of onions, a detail no witnesses had mentioned. Five of the 14 victims identified Diaz from line-ups of photographs. A short time later, the victims were shown video line-ups from which several more identifications of Diaz were made with eight charges brought by the prosecution. The charges were consolidated in a single jury trial. There was no forensic evidence so the prosecution focused on the identifications. Diaz was found guilty of seven charges. DNA testing proved Diaz’s innocence 26 years later.
