Innocence commission.

I want to convey a sincere "thank you" to the Florida Innocence Commission and to Sen. Joe Negron, Rep. Perry Thurston, Jenny Greenberg of the Capital Resource Center, and others who worked on the legislation that would have required stricter standards for police practices involving interrogations relating to eyewitness identifications and lineups.

It is refreshing that people such as yourselves take the time to sponsor legislation that is designed to reduce the number of wrongful convictions based on suggestive or otherwise faulty identifications carried out by those who are more interested in clearing a case by arrest than by arresting the actual perpetrator.

After all, how many people are in prison based on the in-court identification of a single eyewitness? I don't have the numbers, but I would venture it's more than a few. Eyewitness identification and lineup procedures are so important, and the possibility of error is so prevalent, that strict standards should be imposed.

I think Jan Pudlow's first paragraph speaks volumes of the attitude that our lawmakers and the law enforcement community in general share: "The cops didn't want a law telling them how to conduct eyewitness lineups and the cops won." They don't mind having laws that tell us how dark our window tint can be or whether we wear seat belts. They certainly don't mind having relaxed standards of probable cause or expedited court proceedings that benefit them. They don't even let us split our arguments in a jury trial anymore, because they recognized the value of first and last arguments to the defense.

Now, when it's their ox that's being gored, they complain; when it's on us, they're OK with it. And who are these lobbyists anyway? What do the lobbyists (who lobby "intensely") for law enforcement do to get the bill defeated?

The point is that it's bigger than just this law. It's really about the fact that our liberty is eroding day-by-day, and our lawmakers are apparently all right with that.

It is the politically popular position to take on this most serious matter, but the right thing for them to have done would have been to pass the measure in its original form.

Ernie Mullins

Kissimmee

I write to express my consternation with law enforcement lobbyists, sheriffs' organizations, police unions, the "law enforcement crowd," and assorted talking heads, interlopers, and pandering politicians who oppose the legislative imposition of standards for witness identification...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT