Brenton Butler Film Analysis

Only a few hours after the shooting took place, James Stephens identified Brenton Butler as the suspect. During one of the scenes in the documentary his testimony relevant to the identification was shown. As the police were walking Butler towards the crime scene, James Stephens was somehow able to confirm that he was the shooter from fifty feet away. He was then allowed to sit in the back of a patrol car next to Butler to confirm that he was in fact correct. This situation is called a showup. Because of the inherent suggestiveness of a showup, this was the one of the factors that lead to a misidentification. Another factor was the lack of sequential lineups performed by the police department. There are inherent benefits to showup identifications, but there are also limitations. The burden was on the detectives to run James Stephens through at least one more lineup. A systematic lineup, either as a
One of the ways in which they failed to be thorough, competent and meticulous was in the administration of lineup procedure. The witness was allowed to see the potential suspect before the police gave him any explicit instructions. When police fail to tell a witness that they can reject the lineup, the witness is more likely to make a false identification. The second administrative failure that the police made was to essentially allow James Stevens to take part in two successive lineups. He first saw the potential suspect from fifty feet away, before sitting next to him in the back of a patrol car. When witnesses are subjected to successive lineups they are likely to make a false identification both times, while maintaining a high level of confidence. James Stevens identified Brenton Butler as the suspect, in part because the failure to properly administer the lineup made him a biased