The Dallas Morning News has recently reported that Dallas prosecutors have been sending a number of innocent defendants to prison based on uncorroborated eyewitness testimonies and shaky evidence. This legal oversight has started to become apparent as DNA evidence is being used in appeals.
Currently, Dallas County leads all other U.S. counties in exonerating convicted individuals through DNA evidence.
According to research performed by The Dallas Morning News, 19 convictions in Dallas have already been overturned due to DNA exonerations. In 18 of these 19 cases, eyewitness testimony was the primary evidence used to prove the case and get the conviction.
In general, legal professionals are aware that eyewitness testimony can be unreliable, as people forget, unintentionally change the story or deliberately lie. Another possible reason for faulty eyewitness testimony, according to researchers, may have been pressure to identify a suspect in a lineup and then shame or fear of admitting uncertainty later on.
To combat this unreliability, most lawyers attempt to verify eyewitness accounts, either through other witnesses or hard evidence.
However, in some cases, there is only one witness, little or no hard evidence and a suspicious defendant. In these shaky cases, the credibility of the eyewitness can be the deciding factor of whether or not a defendant is convicted.
Clearly, one of the largest costs of wrongful convictions is wasting years of an innocent man’s life while also allowing a guilty man walk free and potentially commit more crimes.
However, there is also a financial burden that comes with wrongful convictions. In fact, researchers estimate that Dallas taxpayers have spent over $3 million to incarcerate and then compensate those who have been wrongfully convicted in their county.
(Source: CNN)
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