wheezer
03-05-2008, 11:47 AM
The incalculable price of faulty eyewitness IDs
Published on: 03/05/08
The Georgia General Assembly is once again preparing to compensate a man for a grave injustice, once again considering a cash payment to a victim of a wrongful conviction. On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee recommended a payment of $1.2 million to Willie Otis "Pete" Williams, who was freed from prison in January 2007 after serving nearly 22 years for a rape he did not commit.
A million dollars isn't nearly enough. A billion dollars wouldn't be enough.
Williams, 46, had two decades of his life stolen from him — prime years when he could have been raising children, earning a living, buying a house, perfecting a craft, taking family vacations. He was 23 when he was convicted. He cannot buy back those lost years, not for a trillion dollars. He cannot restore decades of missed Christmas dinners and family funerals, birthdays and baptisms.
But the General Assembly has become practiced at the fine art of negotiating the value of stolen years. In the past eight years, six other men have been released from Georgia prisons after they were exonerated by DNA evidence. Just last year, Robert Clark, freed after serving 24 years for a rape he didn't commit, was the recipient of a $1.2 million payout.
You'd think this steady procession of Georgians cruelly stripped of their freedom would prompt more than million-dollar payments from the state treasury. You'd think their fates would inspire agonizing debate over the frailties of the state's criminal justice system. And you'd think that legislators would rush to find remedies that would at least lower the number of wrongful convictions.
You'd be wrong. So far, little has come from the efforts of Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta) to improve procedures for eyewitness identifications in criminal investigations. The bill is stuck, even though all seven of the exonerated were wrongly convicted largely on the basis of faulty eyewitness identifications.
Benfield first introduced a bill to standardize eyewitness IDs two years ago, but she met fierce resistance from police and prosecutors. When the legislation was assigned to a study committee, usually a sign that a bill has little support, Benfield faithfully shepherded it through, tacking and trimming to placate critics.
Now, the bill contains just two mandates: By 2009, Georgia law enforcement agencies must develop written procedures on how to administer eyewitness identifications; and by 2011, an officer trained in those best practices must supervise eyewitness ID procedures. But Benfield's bill is still stuck in the Rules Committee, where it awaits a date for a vote on the House floor.
Benfield said she'll keep going back "until the 30th day" of the Legislature, the last day a bill can be passed by its chamber of origin if it is to have a chance at becoming law. "Next time I go, I'll have pictures" of a flawed lineup, she said, hoping she can persuade Rules Committee members with clear proof of faulty procedures.
She mentioned the lineup in which an elderly Moultrie rape victim identified John Jerome White as her attacker in 1979. Benfield says that White struck a pose — "a little cocky" — that caused him to stand out. Largely on the basis of that ID, he was convicted. In December, he was freed after DNA evidence showed that he was not the culprit. Oddly, the actual attacker, James Parham, was standing in the same lineup, but the victim didn't point the finger at him. (Psychologists say it isn't unusual for trauma victims to remember critical details incorrectly.)
If it weren't for DNA evidence, White, Clark and five others would still be serving time, and the actual criminals would still be on the streets. How many other innocent men and women are in Georgia prisons? Many crimes don't yield substantive DNA evidence. How many people convicted on the basis of faulty IDs are serving time for homicide, armed robbery or assault?
Until the Legislature finds the courage to curb faulty eyewitness IDs, the taxpayers of Georgia can expect to keep shelling out millions to the wrongfully imprisoned. Next year, the House Appropriations Committee can decide how much to give White, who served years for a crime he didn't commit.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2008/03/04/tucked_0305.html
Published on: 03/05/08
The Georgia General Assembly is once again preparing to compensate a man for a grave injustice, once again considering a cash payment to a victim of a wrongful conviction. On Monday, the House Appropriations Committee recommended a payment of $1.2 million to Willie Otis "Pete" Williams, who was freed from prison in January 2007 after serving nearly 22 years for a rape he did not commit.
A million dollars isn't nearly enough. A billion dollars wouldn't be enough.
Williams, 46, had two decades of his life stolen from him — prime years when he could have been raising children, earning a living, buying a house, perfecting a craft, taking family vacations. He was 23 when he was convicted. He cannot buy back those lost years, not for a trillion dollars. He cannot restore decades of missed Christmas dinners and family funerals, birthdays and baptisms.
But the General Assembly has become practiced at the fine art of negotiating the value of stolen years. In the past eight years, six other men have been released from Georgia prisons after they were exonerated by DNA evidence. Just last year, Robert Clark, freed after serving 24 years for a rape he didn't commit, was the recipient of a $1.2 million payout.
You'd think this steady procession of Georgians cruelly stripped of their freedom would prompt more than million-dollar payments from the state treasury. You'd think their fates would inspire agonizing debate over the frailties of the state's criminal justice system. And you'd think that legislators would rush to find remedies that would at least lower the number of wrongful convictions.
You'd be wrong. So far, little has come from the efforts of Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta) to improve procedures for eyewitness identifications in criminal investigations. The bill is stuck, even though all seven of the exonerated were wrongly convicted largely on the basis of faulty eyewitness identifications.
Benfield first introduced a bill to standardize eyewitness IDs two years ago, but she met fierce resistance from police and prosecutors. When the legislation was assigned to a study committee, usually a sign that a bill has little support, Benfield faithfully shepherded it through, tacking and trimming to placate critics.
Now, the bill contains just two mandates: By 2009, Georgia law enforcement agencies must develop written procedures on how to administer eyewitness identifications; and by 2011, an officer trained in those best practices must supervise eyewitness ID procedures. But Benfield's bill is still stuck in the Rules Committee, where it awaits a date for a vote on the House floor.
Benfield said she'll keep going back "until the 30th day" of the Legislature, the last day a bill can be passed by its chamber of origin if it is to have a chance at becoming law. "Next time I go, I'll have pictures" of a flawed lineup, she said, hoping she can persuade Rules Committee members with clear proof of faulty procedures.
She mentioned the lineup in which an elderly Moultrie rape victim identified John Jerome White as her attacker in 1979. Benfield says that White struck a pose — "a little cocky" — that caused him to stand out. Largely on the basis of that ID, he was convicted. In December, he was freed after DNA evidence showed that he was not the culprit. Oddly, the actual attacker, James Parham, was standing in the same lineup, but the victim didn't point the finger at him. (Psychologists say it isn't unusual for trauma victims to remember critical details incorrectly.)
If it weren't for DNA evidence, White, Clark and five others would still be serving time, and the actual criminals would still be on the streets. How many other innocent men and women are in Georgia prisons? Many crimes don't yield substantive DNA evidence. How many people convicted on the basis of faulty IDs are serving time for homicide, armed robbery or assault?
Until the Legislature finds the courage to curb faulty eyewitness IDs, the taxpayers of Georgia can expect to keep shelling out millions to the wrongfully imprisoned. Next year, the House Appropriations Committee can decide how much to give White, who served years for a crime he didn't commit.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2008/03/04/tucked_0305.html