Wrongful Convictions

As newer technology develops, more and more cases are being revisited to test for DNA and unlawful practices with hundreds of wrongfully convicted innocents being exonerated. According to the Innocence Project website, mistaken eyewitness identifications are the leading cause in wrongful convictions (Eyewitness Misidentification, 2014). One particular case in 1992 involved a young Florida man named Derrick Williams, who was charged and sentenced to serve 2 life sentences for sexual battery, robbery, grand theft auto, and 2 counts of battery due primarily to a faulty identification. Fortunately for Mr. Williams, he was exonerated in 2011 with the help of DNA evidence; however, he will never get back the 18 years he served for the crime he did not commit (Derrick Williams, 2014).

The victim was a Caucasian woman of 25 years of age and the scene of the crime began at her driveway and ended in a nearby orange grove. The woman was attacked as she was getting out of her vehicle by a black male who forced her back into the car and drove them to the grove. Once there, he tied her up and used his shirt to cover her eyes while he sexually assaulted her, ensuring that the victim was not able to get a close look at him during the act. The victim was able to get away with the shirt still in the car as evidence (Derrick Williams, 2014).

The shirt would have been able to provide DNA evidence that pointed to Mr. Williams’ innocence (which it later did), however the evidence was not used as part of the investigation with the trial instead focusing on the identification provided by the victim. Faulty police work was also present in the case, with the detectives presenting the victim with a photo-lineup that included Mr. Williams’ picture twice. The...

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...and the officer conducting the procedure do not know who the suspect is among the group or if he or she is even present as an option. Police bias that could intentionally or unintentionally guide the witness towards a particular choice during the lineup or boost their confidence in their selection after picking a person out would be eliminated using this tactic (Hasel, 2014).

Mistakes were made in Derrick Williams’ case that unfortunately lead to his undeserved incarceration but should serve as examples of how the criminal justice system and investigation techniques must be refined. Methods as simple as educating people about the commonality of mistaken identifications or giving jurors instructions in cases that rely on witness identifications about influencing factors could end up saving another innocent from serving the same sentence as Mr. Williams (Hasel, 2014).