CONTACT US DID YOU KNOW? 416 - 504 - 7500 Eyewitness Identification Error ADDRESS of wrongful convictions are a 111 Peter St. Suite 408 THE LEADING CAUSE OF result of eyewitness WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS misidentification Toronto, ON M5V 2H1 93% W E B S I T E of cases end in a plea bargain, i n n o c e n c e c a n a d a . c o m rather than the uncertain outcome of a trial Find us on In 29% of our clients' Social Media cases, no crime was committed @InnocenceCanada "If I have learnt anything through this $115,000 battle, it is that justice in the courts is @InnocenceCanada not something guaranteed, it is is the cost of keeping an something that must be fought for innocent person in prison for one and won" year Innocence Canada - Joyce Milgaard GLEN ASSOUN ROBERT BALTOVICH O'NEIL BLACKETT RICHARD BRANT JAMES DRISKELL ANTHONY HANEMAAYER LEIGHTON HAY CLAYTON JOHNSON DINESH KUMAR TAMMY MARQUARDT DAVID MILGAARD GUY PAUL MORIN WILLIAM How do Mistaken MULLINS-JOHNSON FRANK OSTROWSKI ROMEO PHILLION JOHN SALMON MARIA The Cross-Race Effect SHEPHERD SHERRY SHERRETT-ROBINSON THOMAS SOPHONOW STEVEN Eyewitness TRUSCOTT KYLE UNGER ERIN WALSH JACK WHITE ANTHONY'S CASE Identifications Occur? The cross-race effect adds to the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness identifications are extremely Studies examining this phenomenon have powerful sources of evidence in a criminal shown that a person is 1.4 times more likely to remember, and correctly identify, trial. Eyewitness identifications can be the face of an individual who is the same On September 29, 1987, a man broke into the bedroom unreliable for many reasons including race as she or he is when compared to of a 15-year-old girl at about 5:00 a.m. The man pinned stress, emotions, distance and memory their ability to remember and identify the her to her bed, placed his hand over her mouth and recall issues. These types of issues can face of the member of another racial declared that he had a knife. Her mother, however, influence investigations from the earliest group. Critical time can be lost while heard a scream, entered the room, and found the man stages, and eventually lead to an innocent police are distracted from the real attempting to assault her daughter. person's conviction. Unfortunately, juries perpetrator, while focusing on building a The mother saw the man for less than a minute in total are often unaware of the many factors that case against an innocent person that has been misidentified. This can lead to a and described him as 6 feet tall, 170 lbs, a slim build, 19 contribute to the frailties of eyewitness years of age, having sandy brown and wavy hair, and as phenomenon known as tunnel vision, wearing a black leather jacket and blue jeans. evidence. where police focus in on a suspect and find evidence that supports a particular The mother decided, based on no evidence whatsoever, . theory. that the man was likely working in the area and elicited the name of the then-19-year-old Anthony from one of Distance the construction companies as somebody who fit the Stress or Read more about description of the home invader. confusion Tunnel Vision at Lighting Innocencecanada.com Two months after the break-in, she was shown a photo Misleading Lineups line-up with Anthony's photograph, and picked him out. Contributing The investigator gave her positive feedback on her choice. Factors Anthony falsely pled guilty on the second day of the trial after becoming worried that the mother was a very convincing witness. Anthony was sentenced to two years and served eight months in prison. It was later learned The The The The eyewitness "distractors" person witness' through new and undisputed evidence that the is not told are poorly conducting choice perpetrator was actually Paul Bernardo, the infamous that the chosen and do the lineup is is confirmed, “Scarborough rapist". Memory Presence of Misleading culprit not match the aware of which Recall Issues Weapons Lineups may not be description of who the increases To learn more about past exonerations visit included the suspect suspect is confidence InnocenceCanada.com .