They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, They say that all black people look alike, is that also in the eye of the beholder?
It would be an unfair assessment to say the victim that picked me in the photographic line-up did so because I was black. To be honest, I’m not that black, nor am I light skinned. I fall within that comfortable range of being brown.
Facts can not be refuted. The police played a major role in the misidnetification process. First, my picture was over-developed, which made my picture dark. The picture had the complexion of Flavor Flav, just not that ugly, or Wesley Snipes, or any other brother that is what we call blue-black
In he hearing to suppress the photographic line-up, the victim stated she remember the assailant as being dark with a narrown head across the top, and she picked the picture because it was the darkest in the line up.
To farther compile the misidentification process. The Terrebonne Parish Photographic Identification Form, has 7 spaces for the perosn to choose from. There are 6 pictures, and the last space is marked (none), if you are not sure. In the language of the form, it stated you should not guess or conclude that the person that committed the crime is in the line-up. However, at the administatioin of the line up the detective told the victim that the perpetrator was in the line up. At the hearing my lawyer said, so you told the people, he’s in the line up, pick someone? The detective told him yes. I did not physically get a hold of the photographic line-up form for many years later.
Another factor that led to misidentification, was the fact that I was 19 years old, and the other men in the line up was 25 to 30 years old. You may think that is no big deal, but at 19 years old I did not look beat up by life. I never done a drug a day in my life, and even though I did drink in college, I only don so in social gathering. I did not sit in my dorm room counting 99 beers on the wall.
It does not take much to misidentifiy someone, and when faced with a line-up weeks after an incident it makes picking the right person almost impossible. However, when you have factors that play into the identification process it is almost inevitable that misidentification will occur.
The factors we must consider is the over developing of the picture, where the image was extremely dark. That darkness being a factor in picking the picture. Then the inexperience look of an adolencent in a group of pictures with harden criminals. The ultimate factor should be the improper police tactics used to ensure the victims pick someone in the line-up.
Based on a faulty identification I have spent over 2 decades in prison. Simply because the measurment of darkness is in the eye of the beholder.
Eyba “Prime Time” Brown
DOC #397750
