Hear about the problems with eyewitness misidentification from the authors of the Third Circuit Task Force's 2019 Report.
Friday, June 4
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
via Zoom
This event qualifies for 1.5 hours of substantive PA CLE credit.
The Pennsylvania Innocence Project is proud to host a presentation by members of the Third Circuit Task Force on Eyewitness Identifications. Join Third Circuit Judge Theodore McKee along with Third Circuit Judge L. Felipe Restrepo, District Judge Mitchell Goldberg of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Professor Jules Epstein of Temple University Beasley School of Law for a panel discussion moderated by PA Innocence Project Legal Director Nilam A. Sanghvi.
Eyewitness misidentification is a leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States. In 2016, then-Chief Judge McKee appointed a group of prominent judges, lawyers, scholars, and members of the law enforcement community to serve on the Third Circuit Task Force on Eyewitness Identifications. They released a “2019 Report of the Third Circuit Task Force on Eyewitness Identifications” which appeared in the Temple Law Review's Fall 2019 issue.
As the Report concludes, adopting best practices can minimize the risk of a misidentification at the start of the criminal justice process, which is critical before a case reaches a jury trial because jurors seldom are aware that eyewitness identifications may be unreliable.
This informative session will explain the origins of the Task Force, the process that led to the Report's creation, its principal findings, and how the Report may and may not be used moving forward. Please join us!