tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post3987178789979759005..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Eyewitnesses and the 'feeling of knowing'Gritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-24682610409373849812008-07-26T07:13:00.000-05:002008-07-26T07:13:00.000-05:00Here's a big implication you missed - jurors feeli...Here's a big implication you missed - jurors feeling certain about a verdict in the face of evidence that implies but does not prove guilt. The certainty emotion is probably what allows jurors (and prosecutors) to sleep at night after sending someone to prison for 40 years based on a guess.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-74282743664488168732008-07-25T17:35:00.000-05:002008-07-25T17:35:00.000-05:00I had a weird example of this sort of thing in my ...I had a weird example of this sort of thing in my own life just a couple of months ago.<BR/><BR/>I was watching a television show with my wife about unusual places. One of the places was the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, CA. I mentioned to my wife that, when I was a kid, I visited the house with my mother and great aunt. I described to my wife several things I remembered from the visit.<BR/><BR/>A couple of days later, I mentioned to my mother that I saw the house on television and mentioned our trip. My mother informed me that we never went to the Winchester Mystery House. We had talked about going prior to our trip to California, and my mother had told me some things about it, but once we were on the trip, we ended up going somewhere else.<BR/><BR/>I was absolutely certain we had toured that house on my trip when I was a kid. I would've sworn up and down with as much conviction as possible that I had been there.<BR/><BR/>Of course, now that I write this, I get the feeling that I've posted this on this blog before, but I'm much less certain of that.Ryan Paigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12171317748419259984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-86111902013293108962008-07-25T16:26:00.000-05:002008-07-25T16:26:00.000-05:00How can one be certain [...] and at the same time ...<I>How can one be certain [...] and at the same time utterly and profoundly wrong?</I><BR/><BR/>Followers of different religions have been wondering this about each other for centuries.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-31249247331144241682008-07-25T15:21:00.000-05:002008-07-25T15:21:00.000-05:00btw, I was pleased to see Grits in the link column...btw, I was pleased to see Grits in the link column at the <A HREF="http://ipoftexas.org/" REL="nofollow"> Texas Innocence Project</A>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-36590497351985914512008-07-25T14:40:00.000-05:002008-07-25T14:40:00.000-05:00Information about the (un)certainty of eyewitness ...Information about the (un)certainty of eyewitness identification should be explained to jurors in the future.<BR/><BR/>For the present, there's some DAs, Judges, and others that could use a bit of education too. In many of the couple hundred recent DNA exonerations, "the system" had denied requests for post-conviction DNA testing on the basis of eyewitness testimony. <BR/><BR/>These days, they're getting it right in Dallas. But Dallas now has the benefit of a DA that's more interested in justice than his conviction stats. <BR/><BR/><I>"DNA testing could have freed Patrick Leondos Waller seven years ago from a life sentence for armed robbery and kept the real criminal in prison.<BR/><BR/>But because former Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill objected, Mr. Waller's efforts to obtain genetic testing were delayed until last fall. That was long enough for the man science has now identified as the perpetrator to elude justice for the crime that also included a rape and kidnapping.<BR/><BR/>DNA tests have now cleared Mr. Waller. The district attorney's office said two men who recently confessed to the 1992 crime cannot be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired. One of the men, whom DNA evidence definitively links to the crime, was paroled in February after serving 15 years for burglary."</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-dnaexonerate_27met.ART.State.Edition1.4d70110.html" REL="nofollow"> (more...)</A><BR/><BR/>We'd be better off with a lot fewer "tough on crime" career politicians as DAs, and more of the "fairness counts" attitude exhibited by Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com