The Fallibility of Memory Is Not the Only Problem With Eyewitness Testimony
These days, people seem aware that all humans have biases, although the circumstances surrounding when a person works this fact into conversation reveal a lot about that person’s own biases. On the one hand, the court system has safeguards in place to prevent the biases of the judge and jury from standing in the way of a fair verdict. We have come a long way from the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where a witness claims to know that the defendant is a witch because, “She looks like one.” On the other hand, presenting evidence to a jury is still a fundamentally human endeavor, as is returning a verdict. When deciding whether the evidence proves a defendant’s guilt, jurors decide according to their human judgment, not according to an algorithm. Given the pervasiveness of human bias, you can sometimes cast doubt on the testimony of the prosecution’s witnesses by showing forensic evidence that is beyond the influence of human biases. For help preparing defenses that cast doubt on the prosecution’s allegations, contact a Florida drug offenses attorney.
Justice for a Generation That Has Learned to Trust Machines
When the Bill of Rights was written, and in the time of the legal systems on which it was based, statements by witnesses were practically the only way to prove or disprove a defendant’s guilt. Of course, it is difficult to prove that an eyewitness remembers the details accurately, and showing that the witness has a motive to lie can be an effective defense strategy. This is only part of the problem, though. Witness testimony often plays to jurors’ emotions, rather than to their sense of certainty. This is true not only of eyewitnesses and character witnesses, but also of expert witness testimony. At their worst, witnesses can distract the jury from the matter at hand, although judges should exclude irrelevant evidence.
What is the antidote to this problem? Sometimes, you can cut through the hype by showing evidence that is incapable of lying. Photographs of the crime scene and screen shots of text messages can show jurors what witnesses can only describe. Too often, lawyers use photographic evidence only as illustrations for the verbal testimony presented by witnesses. Instead, it might be better to build your defense case by letting the non-human evidence tell the story. Show the records of when the crime lab that processed your samples has made mistakes. Show your clean drug tests from shortly before and shortly after your arrest. Show the location data from your phone that shows that you were nowhere near where the drug deal happened. Let your lawyer, and if applicable, your defense witnesses, explain the forensic evidence, instead of the other way around.
Contact FL Drug Defense Group About Drug Cases
A Central Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you by going beyond eyewitness testimony to present a comprehensive defense case at your drug crime trial. Contact FL Drug Defense Group in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
nobaproject.com/modules/eyewitness-testimony-and-memory-biases
