Ivic 2
Romeo Phillion: 31 Years Behind Bars
"It was all fabrication, perjury, bias, promises and coercing. That 's how they built their case. There is not one piece of evidence that points at me; it all points the other way."
– Romeo Phillion Miscarriages of justice, where an innocent individual is wrongfully convicted of a crime, were, until recently, thought to occur infrequently. Although the number of wrongful convictions is an unknown figure, it has been said to be approximately one to five percent of convictions in America each year, where one percent averages out to about 6000 cases (Anderson, Anderson & Marquis, 2001). Wrongful convictions do not occur as a result of a single error by a sole individual. …show more content…
Eyewitness misidentification is the most common cause of wrongful convictions, accounting for at least seventy-two percent of convictions overturned through DNA testing (The Innocence Project). This being said, eyewitness errors may happen for several reasons, including suggestive police interviewing, an incorrect belief about what the witness saw, and the malleability of confidence (Denov & Campbell, 2005). In this specific case, the malleability of confidence was present. The malleability of confidence refers to how easily influenced the witness is to changing circumstances under stress (Denov & Campbell, 2005). This was evident when Mrs. Roy changed the physical features of the perpetrator to fit Phillion 's description due to the stress of having to choose someone to convict. During the initial interview with Mrs. Roy, she stated that the man who murdered her husband was a short man with curly black hair and brown eyes, traits that Phillion did not have (Laskin et al., 2009). Shortly after the release of the description and sketch of the killer, Phillion 's ex-girlfriend and prostitute, Gail Brazeau, told police that Romeo resembled the sketch, while also stating he had a criminal background (Makin, 2001). By telling the police about Phillion 's criminal background, he was already being looked at as an unpopular defendant, making him an easier target to go after. On August 10th, Detective John McCombie of the Ottawa Police Department showed Mrs. Roy photographs of ten different men, including pictures of Phillion, and his identical twin brother, Donald, even though their physical
Romeo Phillion: 31 Years Behind Bars
"It was all fabrication, perjury, bias, promises and coercing. That 's how they built their case. There is not one piece of evidence that points at me; it all points the other way."
– Romeo Phillion Miscarriages of justice, where an innocent individual is wrongfully convicted of a crime, were, until recently, thought to occur infrequently. Although the number of wrongful convictions is an unknown figure, it has been said to be approximately one to five percent of convictions in America each year, where one percent averages out to about 6000 cases (Anderson, Anderson & Marquis, 2001). Wrongful convictions do not occur as a result of a single error by a sole individual. …show more content…
Eyewitness misidentification is the most common cause of wrongful convictions, accounting for at least seventy-two percent of convictions overturned through DNA testing (The Innocence Project). This being said, eyewitness errors may happen for several reasons, including suggestive police interviewing, an incorrect belief about what the witness saw, and the malleability of confidence (Denov & Campbell, 2005). In this specific case, the malleability of confidence was present. The malleability of confidence refers to how easily influenced the witness is to changing circumstances under stress (Denov & Campbell, 2005). This was evident when Mrs. Roy changed the physical features of the perpetrator to fit Phillion 's description due to the stress of having to choose someone to convict. During the initial interview with Mrs. Roy, she stated that the man who murdered her husband was a short man with curly black hair and brown eyes, traits that Phillion did not have (Laskin et al., 2009). Shortly after the release of the description and sketch of the killer, Phillion 's ex-girlfriend and prostitute, Gail Brazeau, told police that Romeo resembled the sketch, while also stating he had a criminal background (Makin, 2001). By telling the police about Phillion 's criminal background, he was already being looked at as an unpopular defendant, making him an easier target to go after. On August 10th, Detective John McCombie of the Ottawa Police Department showed Mrs. Roy photographs of ten different men, including pictures of Phillion, and his identical twin brother, Donald, even though their physical