WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Jan. 11 to extend constitutional safeguards against the use of some eyewitness testimony at criminal trials, despite concerns that eyewitness identification plays a key role in innocent people going to prison.
In a case dealing with a narrow slice of the issue of identifying a suspect, the Court voted 8-1 to uphold the theft conviction of Barion Perry in New Hampshire state court. Mr. Perry argued that courts should be able to exclude eyewitness testimony when identifications are made under suggestive circumstances, even when there is no evidence of manipulation by the police.
