Eyewitness Testimony Elizabeth Loftus

Eye witness testimony can be a very important piece of evidence surrounding criminal cases but not always the most reliable. As discussed in the textbook Criminal Evidence: Principles and Cases, jurors often rely very heavily on eyewitness interpretations of an incident to determine whether or not a defendant is guilty. Since an adult is presumed to be competent, a juror will often make the assumption that the testimony provided is an accurate account of the events that took place. Amongst other factors, the amount of stress the witness is under at the time of the crime, the presence of a weapon, lighting and the lack of any distinguishable characteristics can play a role in creating a false memory. Under that extreme pressure, a witness is more likely not to recall certain aspects of an incident. Their attention may have been drawn elsewhere and they never noticed the suspect’s beard, tattoos or facial features which can be crucial identifiers. The consequences of falsely identifying a suspect due to false memories can ruin an innocent person’s life, have them convicted and cause them to be punished for a crime that they did not commit.
In the video Eye Witness Reliability, Elizabeth Loftus describes a case that she studied where a witness falsely identified a man by the name of Steve Titus

based on false memories. Steve Titus slightly resembled the suspect who had been accused of raping a hitchhiker. When provided with the police lineup initially, the victim pointed out that Steve was the closest person to resemble her attacker. Titus stood trial and was convicted of a crime he did not commit. The real rapist was later found and Titus was exonerated. Although the criminal trial itself was over, this ultimately ruined his life. He never got over the fact that he had been wrongly convicted. Despite conflicting evidence, a false testimony of events eventually led to his demise. Steve initiated a civil suit against the police department. He had lost his job, wife, savings and eventually his life due to a stress related heart attack. He never got a chance to see the fruitions of his wrongful conviction civil suit. His entire life was literally in the hands of a witness whose memory had been altered throughout court proceedings and questioning.
After reading the material in the book on false testimonies, I think that the jury should receive information about false memories so that they are aware that they exist.

A juror needs to understand that a witness may account for a story as they remember it which does not always mean that’s exactly how it occurred. All other evidence should be considered to corroborate the testimony of an eye witness. When someone’s freedom depends on your fact finding all evidence needs to be thoroughly examined including a testimony. The wrongfully convicted person has to deal with the consequence of the false testimony which can be serious or as in this case it can even be life

altering.