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Eyewitnesses get closer look in death-penalty cases By Savannah Morning News September 13, 2007

ATLANTA - State lawmakers concerned about people wrongly sent to prison because of inaccurate witness testimonies plan to examine the issue in depth with defense attorneys, law enforcement agencies and researchers.
The first of five study committees about eyewitness identification is scheduled for this morning at the Capitol.
All six Georgia men, including two from Savannah, who have been exonerated after DNA evidence proved their innocence have been invited to attend and speak to legislators.
"Every single one of those original convictions was based on faulty identifications," said Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, D-Atlanta, who is chairing the committee.
Douglas Echols and Samuel Scott were convicted in Chatham County in 1987 for kidnapping and raping a woman, who identified each man. Both were released in 2001 when DNA evidence cleared them.
The pending death-penalty appeal for Savannah's Troy Anthony Davis, a convicted cop killer, also is expected to be discussed as part of the meetings. Because there was no physical evidence found in his case, his trial depended largely on witness statements.
Because six of the nine witnesses who testified against him have since recanted, lawyers for Davis are trying for a new trial.
Benfield, a former public defender, has been researching eyewitness identification and successfully pushed bills for the state to compensate some of the wrongly accused men.
She introduced legislation this year to tighten requirements for using witnesses to identify suspects, but it stalled out over several concerns about expenses for police departments and the increased difficulty prosecutors would have using witnesses at trials.
There also is dispute over some of the studies' results and how effective changing witness questioning procedures will be.
"What I'd like to see come out of this study committee is a pilot project in Georgia where we could select three law enforcement agencies of varying sizes and test procedures for a year," Benfield said.
Supporters of witness identification reform point to techniques being tried in other cities or recommended in research studies.
One example is a double-blind procedure in which neither the witness nor the officer conducting a lineup knows who the suspect is so that the officer does not unintentionally give out hints to the witness.
Another is requiring "confidence statements" from witnesses after they single out lineup suspects so they can record how certain they are before their memories gel over time.
Of the more than 200 convictions nationwide overturned eventually through DNA evidence, incorrect eyewitness identification contributed to more than 75 percent of the cases, according to the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group.
The group's Georgia branch has been canvassing the nearly 500 law enforcement agencies in the state to survey them on their techniques for identifying suspects through witnesses.
More than half have responded, and the results will be discussed as part of the upcoming study committee meetings, said Lisa Georgia, communications director for the Georgia Innocence Project.
"We really hope at the end of these hearings, we have an active conversation going that includes the Legislature, law enforcement and prosecutors and can reach a consensus on the need for eyewitness identification reform," she said.

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