It’s High Time for Lineup Reforms
That is a short quote from the trial testimony of the victim of a rape, who had picked out the photograph of a man named Thomas Haynesworth from an array of photographs that police had shown. This victim was not trying to misidentify anyone, and testified at trial with complete confidence that Haynesworth was the culprit. And this was one of three eyewitnesses who identified Haynesworth as a rapist. Yet this confidence was completely false.
After serving 27 years in prison in Virginia for three crimes he did not commit, Haynesworth was exonerated based on DNA tests in 2011. Last year, he received $1 million in compensation from the commonwealth. At the time, Attorney General Ken Cuccinnelli commented: “Although we wish that the amount of money could have been greater, we also know that no amount can make up for those 27 lost years.”