Guilty, Until Proven Innocent?

Written By: Greta Watson

On July 19, 1982, Martin Anderson was accused of rape. The Innocence Project
reports that he was a suspect because Marvin was the only black man that the
investigating officer knew who lived with a white woman. The victim was shown a color
photo of Marvin along with half a dozen black and white mug shots of other people. She
chose the color photo of Marvin. An hour later the police created a line up with Marvin
being the only one they showed her from the photos. She identified him in the line up.
Even though Marvin had an alibi, he was convicted of rape, abduction, sodomy and
robbery. He was convicted based on this eyewitness identification. Marvin was sentenced
to 210 years. He served 15 years in prison before DNA testing proved him to be innocent.
They found DNA from the evidence and it did not match Martins. Eyewitness
misidentification was the cause of Martins 15- year incarceration. Martin is one of many
people who were sentenced to prison for a crime they did not commit. According to the
Innocence Project, eyewitness misidentification is the reason behind many wrongful
convictions. Society can deny that there are faults in our legal system, but the fact is that
our legal system is far from perfect.
According to the Innocence Project, eyewitness misidentification is the cause of
72% of cases where people are wrongfully accused. When a defendant gets convicted
because a witness is 100% sure that they see the perpetrator in a line up, the defendant
has little chance to prove they are innocent. The person could be innocent, like in
Marvins case, but since the victim claims that the person is definitely the perpetrator, the
jury will automatically think that they know the defendant is guilty, because the victim

was the only person present. This is a problem because even if that is the only
information the prosecutor attorney has on the person they can make a case and
wrongfully convict them. Mike Semanchik from the Innocence Project San Diego said,
Whenever someone is on a jury, even if the victim says that the defendant is 100% the
person who perpetrated the crime, the jury still needs to always consider the other
evidence. If the jury believes the victim no matter what, it gives the person who did not
perpetrate the crime no chance to prove they are innocent.
False confessions happen way too frequently. A person could have no connection
to the victim but they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time and they could be
wrongfully accused. Police are allowed to lie. Sometimes they put an idea in the
wrongfully accused persons mind that they could have been intoxicated or on drugs or
even could have had a blackout. The accused person could be held in the investigation
room for 18 or more hours during questioning. This makes the person think long and hard
about what they were doing and what might have happened if they did have a blackout or
something did go wrong. This much pressure causes people to falsely confess to a crime
they did not commit. The police may use other strategies. They will tell a suspect that if
they confess, the suspect will get a shorter sentencing and benefit by pleading guilty.
There needs to be more evidence than just a confession when convicting someone of a
crime.
Another aspect of the judicial system, which could be improved, is the jury
system. Phil Halpern, of the San Diego U.S. Attorneys Office stated that he believes the
jury system could be improved in many ways. The first way he mentioned was that juries
are selected based on race, socioeconomic status, job status, etc. He feels that juries

should be a random collection of the population and not so specifically balanced, because
then the court has no bias in the jury. Another way that the jury system does not work is
that not all evidence is shown to juries. This causes juries to make decisions based on
limited information. For example, if someone is accused of killing a person and they
have killed in the past, this evidence may not be given to the jury. Mr. Halpern believes
that juries should have background evidence on defendants to help show patterns and
typical behavior. Another important issue is that the jury system is not an equal
representation of our population and different cultures in our society. Often times the
people who show up for jury duty are retired, out of work, or young college students.
This problem causes the lack of an equal opportunity for either side of the case to present
the issue in a fair and just way.
The justice system in the United States sometimes works. But just like any other
system, it has it faults. It is important to have a system in place so that illegal deeds are
prosecuted and those who hurt others are sentenced. However, when we hear about those
who are convicted of crimes they did not commit, it makes you question the system and
those involved. Its hard to say that the justice system is all bad. Many times the justice
system works and the perpetrators are sentenced and locked up. We need to find solutions
to the problems in our justice system. Groups like The Innocence Project can be the
solution to these problems.
Sometimes the time that the justice system takes is extraordinary. As time goes
on, evidence is lost. Peoples memories change, and perceptions can be altered. One of
the main complaints in the justice system is how long it takes to go to trial. For example,
the people who are thought to have committed attacks on September 11, 2001 still

havent been to trial. They have been in jail over 10 years and our system still hasnt
processed them. Victims and families are victims are affected negatively because of the
extensive time it takes to get to trial. These people are left to deal with frustration and
emotions over the crime and the idea that the perpetrators still have not been to trial.
The Innocence Project makes a positive difference in our justice system. It is an
organization that allows inmates to contact them to review their cases. The Innocence
Project then researches the cases to see if the convictions were valid and what evidence
was used in the trials. The Innocence Project strongly supports the ideas that some
defendants may be innocent, but were locked up due to faults in the justice system. After
much research, their organization has helped hundreds of wrongly accused defendants be
freed. This doesnt mean that these wrongfully accused people return home in the same
mental state as they were in before they left. Instead, they are changed, because going to
jail and being innocentp, changes your life forever. Due to the Innocence Project, many
are cleared of charges. These released victims may be happy to be released, but they are
forever changed by the negative experience of being in jail for no valid reason.
Another partial solution to the faults in our justice system would be to make sure
that the prosecutors and police are looking for true justice and not just trying to win a
case. Mr. Halpern from the U.S. Attorneys Office stated that his philosophy was he
would never prosecute someone he felt was innocent. He never would wish an unfair
consequence. His goal is always to find the truth.
The justice system in the United States is a work in progress. There are many
good goals and people involved, but there are also many negatives. Organizations like the
Innocence Project are bringing to light the fact that we need to make some changes in the

way the current system works. Maybe we need to study how other countries are running
their judicial systems, or invest more in researching how we can best improve our current
system. Regardless, we need to focus in on the truth. People are innocent until proven
guilty.