Thoughts on Timothy Cole
Several people have already discussed the case of Timothy Cole. Cole was a Texas Tech student when he was convicted in 1985 of rape and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Cole died in 1999 from asthma complications. He maintained his innocence, even it meant he wouldn't be paroled. His family never doubted, and never gave up.Their results paid fruit in 2003 when DNA evidence cleared him, and pointed to the guilt of another man. As with over 75% of wrongful convictions, this one involved a bad identification.
The identity of the actual rapist was not a mystery. He had been trying to admit his guilt for several years. Although its rare that someone would admit to committing such a serious offense, investigators didn't believe him. They probably didn't care - after all, they had a conviction in the case. When the DNA evidence came back his confession could no longer be ignored.
Cole's family initiated a court of inquiry in Travis County, and presented evidence seeking Cole's exoneration. They were successful, and former Court of Criminal Appeals justice Charlie Baird granted the request. The family will not seek a pardon from Governor Perry, and also seek to have the conviction expunged from his record. Even though he's no longer with us, it is a formal recognition that he is in fact innocent, and should have never been convicted.
In connection with the hearing, Cole's family appeared at the legislature, and received what has been described as a truly warm reception. Several bills have already been introduced dealing with innocence issues, and maybe this year they have a chance of passage. It helps to put a face on an issue. Several other exoneree's also were in Austin to support the bills. While I'm all for anything that possibly prevent the conviction of an innocent person, I have doubts about how effective these bills will be without a fundamental shift in the system.
Mistaken identifications have been targeted as a major cause of wrongful convictions. Some states and local police departments have changed the way line-ups are conducted. With traditional line-ups, the danger is that the individual who most closely resembles the assailant will be picked. An identification can almost be assured by the other pictures included in the line-up. That appears to be what happened with Cole; it was either going to be him or no one. Research has shown that showing pictures one at time will improve accuracy. Other changes include having an investigator not associated with the case do the lineup so there is no way to influence the selection.
I have no doubt such changes will improve the process. Even with better procedures though, I think you still have to accept that mistakes are going to be made. Human memory is not like a camera; you cannot simply go back and recreate what you saw. It is influenced by a number of variables. most of which you are not aware of. The bottom line is that identifications are not perfect, and everyone seems to know that except prosecutors and investigators. Personally, I think they know it, they just don't care. The easy way to close a case is with an identification. Usually any further investigation stop, and the case is closed. Often times, as in Cole's case, investigators ignore evidence which should have caused them to question the identification.
Maybe we need a corroberation requirement, like we have with accomplice witnesses. You cannot obtain a conviction without other evidence that supports guilt. Over time, perhaps that would cause a change in tactics. Instead of throwing someone into a line up with nothing more than a hunch, maybe they would wait until they had other evidence. More importantly, maybe investigation would continue after the identification is made. Identifications would be treated as nothing more than circumstantial evidence.
Until we recognize the inaccuracy of identifications, the problem is going to remain. No matter how many cases of mistaken identification are reported, police and the general public still believe its accurate. The tendency is to look at those cases as aberration. If we could ever get accurate statistics, the truth may be that an accurate identification is the exception. After all, think of all the things going in most crimes; its no wonder that the ability to accurately recall what someone looks like is diminished.
I hope these changes come about. However, I also hope that's not the end, and everyone expects the problem is fixed. As long as police can close a case without a substantial amount of work they are going to do; its only human nature. Cases will continue to be closed with identifications, and probably many will be wrong. We still have a long way to go.
Very well put. As it is, we can't trust eyewitness identification and we can't trust forensic "science."
When I too first heard the story of Tim Cole, it may me want to write about it. So I contacted the Innocence Project of Texas, Tim Cole's mother and family, researched the original transcripts and police investigative reports, conducted numerous interviews. Out of this came my forthcoming book titled A PLEA FOR JUSTICE: The Timothy Cole Story, published by Eakin Press, and set for release about May 01, 2010. For more information, go to www.timothybriancole.com
My thanks to this blog and others for keeping this tragedy in front of the American public. Sincerely, Fred B. McKinley