15.28 - 1. General Tactical Considerations

JurisdictionNew York

1. General Tactical Considerations

The cross-examiner’s overall theme must be that eyewitness identification is generally unreliable2148 and that identification is generally based on something other than the unique face of the perpetrator. Factors to bring out (where relevant) include the following:

a. It should first be established that the witness was never better able to describe or identify the alleged perpetrator than at those first moments.
b. Original view poor.

(1) Crime swift.

(2) Lighting poor.

(3) Distance great.

(4) Perpetrator is a stranger.

(5) Perpetrator’s face not completely exposed.

(6) Complainant nervous or distraught.

(7) Complainant’s first experience with crime.

(8) Complainant’s vision generally poor.

c. Second view unreliable .

(1) Long time gap between first and second view.

(2) Photo or lineup identification.

(a) Suggestion (inadvertent?) that perpetrator among presented group.

(b)...

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