Walter Swift Case Study In A Criminal Case

The cards were stacked up against Walter Swift being accused of a crime he did not commit; eyewitness misidentification, incomplete forensic testimony, government misconduct and an inadequate defense. In 1982, a white pregnant woman was raped and robbed by a black man in her home in Detroit, Michigan while playing with her seven month old son. She described her assailant as a thin black man between the ages of 15 and 18. She stated to detective Janice Nobliski, that the man was clean shaven with braids in his hair. When police arrived at her house, they collected the robe she was wearing and the sheet from her bed. She was also taken to the hospital where a rape kit was done on her. At the time the crime was committed, Walter Swift had side burns, a mustache, a black eye and he was 21 years old. A big contrast from what the victim …show more content…
DNA evidence could not be presented as the physical evidence had been destroyed. However, the Innocence Project investigators found that less sophisticated forensic testing used in 1982 showed that Swift did not commit the crime, but the jury never heard this evidence. The victim picking out the seven other suspects before selecting Swift, was never presented to the defense attorneys or prosecutors. On top of everything else, Lawrence R. Greene, Swift’s court-appointed trial attorney, failed to follow up on the identification process during trial and did not present the clear forensic evidence. Greene was later suspended from practicing law several times based on misconduct and unethical representation in other cases. This case is a perfect example of cross-race and eyewitness misidentification. Research shows that cross race identification is much less accurate than same race identification. Data from the Innocence Project shows eyewitness misidentification is the main reason of wrongful convictions, 75%! Eyewitness misidentification is the most unreliable form of