Wrongful conviction and eyewitness identification evidence

Abstract

David Dougherty spent 3 years in prison for the abduction and rape of an 11 year old girl, a crime he did not commit. The victim identified the perpetrator as Dougherty, her neighbour, because she said she recognised his voice and because during the attack she saw him in good light for about twenty seconds when the blindfold she was made to wear slipped. Dougherty denied the allegation and offered a DNA sample as evidence of his innocence, the results of which were inconclusive. In June 1993 the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to 7 years nine months imprisonment. Five months later the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) identified the presence of another man's semen in the victim's underclothes, but Dougherty's appeal against his conviction was overturned. Following a petition to the Governor-General, by Dougherty's lawyer, the Appeal Court quashed his convictions and ordered a retrial. In April 1997 the jury decided that Dougherty was not guilty of all charges. What went wrong? How is it that one man, spent three years of his life in prison for something he is found not to have done? Is it simply a matter of a genuine but mistaken identification of Dougherty by the victim? Confusion surfaces in the wake of Dougherty's compensation bid being initially declined, as to whether he was truly innocent or merely not guilty. The fact, however, remains: Dougherty is now a free man with three years of his life wasted. Cases of innocent convictions are arising at an alarming rate in the United States. Identifying these cases is the result of the dedicated research by voluntary organisations throughout the country and recent government level attention that focuses on potential investigative problems and the value of scientific testing to the fairness of criminal trials. Now more than ever, exonerating evidence holds indisputable truths and with it comes a realisation of the tragedy that is wrongful conviction and an urgency of detection to keep wrongful incarceration at a minimum.