Three Reasons Why Eye Witness Testimony is Unreliable

Written by:Julian Stroleny PortraitJulian Stroleny

Typically, those who have been brought up on criminal charges do have at least one individual that acts as an eyewitness to the events that lead to the criminal charge. The eyewitness can usually identify the person who was charged with the crime. While it is understandably upsetting to learn that an eyewitness is pointing to you, our criminal attorney in Miami wants you to know that even though someone is willing to identify you as the responsible party, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are guilty and will be convicted of the crime.

Here’s the thing, testimony from eyewitnesses is not always reliable. In fact, there are several issues that can arise when it comes to eyewitness testimony, which in turn, makes the testimony of an eyewitness unreliable in court.

If you have recently discovered that an eyewitness has identified you as being involved in the crime that you were charged with, our criminal defense lawyer in Miami wants you to take comfort in knowing that the individual’s testimony may not have an effect on you.

As per our Miami criminal defense attorney, there are three situations, in particular, that lead to issues with testimony from eyewitness.

Eyewitness Errors

The first issue our criminal attorney in Miami wants you to know about eyewitness testimony is that it is highly susceptible to errors. It is not uncommon for people to remember false information and details when they are scared, nervous or afraid. They often can’t see things accurately when they are far away, or when they only had a few seconds to see a criminal event occurring. It can be difficult to provide a proper description of a person, including exactly what they looked like and any definitive features. On top of all of this, people’s biases can cause them to see characteristics that were not real, or actions that didn’t actually occur.

Mislead by Police

The second problem with eyewitness testimony that our criminal attorney in Miami wants to highlight is that police can mislead eyewitnesses. When they are questioning eyewitnesses, they can make subtle suggestions that can sway a person to improperly identify someone. They can present lineups in a manner that can mislead an eyewitness. They can make arrangements in order to get an eyewitness to identify someone in question. Unfortunately, the police have been known to use these tactics in order to encourage eyewitnesses to identify a suspect, which can lead to someone being wrongly identified.

Time Sensitive

Lastly, our Miami criminal defense attorney wants to highlight that eyewitness testimony is time-sensitive. Memories can change over time, and so can the details they recall when they speak to the police. This often leads to an improper identification of a suspect.

If you have been brought up on criminal charges, contact our Miami criminal law firm as soon as possible. Even if there are eyewitnesses, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to be found guilty.

Stroleny Law: Criminal Defense Attorney handles a variety of criminal law cases, so call now if you have any questions.

View more contact information here: Miami Criminal Defense Attorney.


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