Eyewitness Identification

State v. Henderson

Amicus brief urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to change the framework governing the admission of eyewitness identification evidence.

Young v. Conway

Amicus brief in the Second Circuit challenging the admissibility of an unreliable in-court identification, following an illegal lineup. 

People v. Boone

Amicus brief in the New York Court of Appeals arguing that trial courts should give a jury instruction on the cross-race effect when there is a cross-racial identification.

Garner v. People

Amicus brief in the Colorado Supreme Court arguing that first time in-court identifications are unnecessarily suggestive, and in-court identifications should only be allowed if (a) the eyewitness is well acquainted with the defendant or (b) the in-court identification is preceded by a non-suggestive out-of-court identification. 

Bolin v. Baker

Amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit challenging the admissibility of an unreliable identification.

Ex parte Flores

Amicus brief in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals arguing that changes in the scientific consensus about eyewitness memory were newly available evidence requiring a new trial, in a case where hypnosis was used to produce a composite sketch and the eyewitness was unable to identify the defendant in a photo array.

People v. Sammons

Amicus brief in the Michigan Supreme Court arguing that, absent exigent circumstances, evidence from showup identifications should be inadmissible. 

State v. Carpenter

Amicus brief in the Missouri Supreme Court supporting the right of the defense to call an expert witness in the field of eyewitness identification and memory.

State v. Derri

Amicus brief urging the Washington Supreme Court to incorporate scientific research about the system and estimator variables that affect eyewitness memory into its test for the admissibility of eyewitness identification evidence. 

State v. Watson

Amicus brief in the New Jersey Supreme Court arguing that (a) first time in-court identifications should not be allowed, and (b) eyewitnesses should be prohibited from testifying at trial to a greater degree of confidence about an identification than they previously expressed at an initial out-of-court identification procedure.

Commonwealth v. Mercado

Amicus brief in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court arguing that advances in the study of eyewitness identifications and memory since the time of trial were newly discovered or newly available evidence, requiring a new trial. 

People v. Vaughn

Amicus brief in the New York Court of Appeals arguing that expert testimony about eyewitness identifications should be admissible whenever it would aid the factfinder, regardless of whether there is evidence corroborating the identification.

People v. Garcia

Amicus brief in the New York Court of Appeals arguing that uncorroborated stranger identifications that show scientific indicia of unreliability are legally insufficient to sustain a conviction, absent additional evidence. 

Forensic Science

People of the State of New York vs. John Doe

Pre-trial Frye challenge to the admissibility of bite mark evidence.

Eddie Lee Howard vs. State of Mississippi

Post-conviction actual innocence case involving discredited bite mark evidence.

State of Connecticut vs. Taneisha Irving

Pre-trial Porter/Daubert challenge to the admissibility of bite mark evidence.

State of Arizona vs. Jason Derek Krause

Post-conviction actual innocence case involving comparative bullet lead analysis.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. John Doe

Post-conviction actual innocence challenge to hair microscopy evidence involving an FBI analyst.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Geordano Rodriguez

Amicus brief educating the court about wrongful convictions stemming from forensic lab scandals.

State of Wisconsin v. Michael R. Griep

Amicus brief supporting defendant’s right to cross examine an expert witness.

Glossip v. Gross

Amicus brief in the Supreme Court involving unreliable scientific evidence used to evaluate the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s three-drug protocol used to carry out executions.

New Hampshire v. Breest

Post-conviction actual innocence case involving discredited neutron activation analysis evidence.

 

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