Why Attend?
- Review the due process test in Virginia, and illustrative cases
- Learn how to use eyewitness experts to challenge eyewitness identifications
- Discover the ways to challenge the procedures used to obtain the identification
- Hear how the new July 2020 legislation can affect eyewitness identification cases
Eyewitness identification has long been at the heart of many criminal investigations and trials. A witness’s identification of the defendant as the person who committed the crime often can be enough, by itself and absent any other evidence, to ensure a conviction. But even assuming a good-faith, credible witness, how good are most identifications of strangers? How has the law changed over the years? What have scientists discovered about how eyewitness memory is processed and retained—and how it can be altered due to even inadvertent suggestion from police?
Faced with cases in which it was alleged that tactics used by police and prosecutors improperly influenced the result of eyewitness identifications, the U.S. Supreme Court in the late 1960s crafted rules based on due process considerations—which it had not addressed again until 2012. In Perry v. New Hampshire, the Court broke its long silence to largely affirm its previous views on the subject. This is in contrast to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which in 2011 sent shockwaves through the criminal law world when it examined three decades of scientific evidence suggesting that eyewitness identifications are inherently fragile evidence, and that special protections are therefore required. So where does the law stand at this point on this topic?
Virginia now has aspirational regulations to modernize eyewitness identification procedures that provide a blueprint for challenging questionable police investigations that deviate from these rules. Our two speakers are exceptionally well qualified to discuss these issues. Effective July 2020, there is new legislation allowing for ex parte requests for experts for indigent criminal defendants. You will hear how to make an ex parte request for a memory expert and what you can do to preserve the issue in the event the court does not approve funds for an expert. This seminar also provides the opportunity to:
- Become familiar with the best practices on eyewitness identification procedures
- Learn how to get the most favorable jury instruction
- Review the state of scientific research on perception and memory
| Registration Deadlines: |
| Webcast: |
10 minutes prior to seminar. If you register for a webcast the day of the seminar, your e-mail receipt will include a link to launch the seminar and download the materials. |
| Telephone: |
Online registration ends at 11:59 p.m. the day preceding the seminar
Call (800) 979-8253 to register up to one hour prior to the seminar |
Cancellation Policy: Cancellation/transfer requests will be honored until 5:00 p.m. the day preceding the seminar. You will, however, be charged $40 if you cancel or transfer your registration to a different seminar after the link to the materials has been e-mailed by Virginia CLE.
Full refunds or transfers are available up to two days after a webcast in the unlikely event that you experience technical difficulties.
MCLE Credit Caveat: The MCLE Board measures credits by the time you spend in attendance. If you enter a seminar late or leave it early, or both, you must reflect those adjustments accurately in the credits you report on your credit reporting form. A code will be given at the end of the seminar, which must be written on your MCLE form.
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