Robbery

Victim was a nineteen year old college student taking the trolley home one evening. She was approached by three men, who ripped her backpack off of her shoulders and ran away. Defendant was caught a short distance away and identified by victim as one of the men who attacked her.

The defense believed this was a case of mistaken identity and there were cross racial identification issues as victim was Hispanic and the defendant was African American. Rich employed a seldom used technique at the preliminary hearing by waiving my client’s presence during the victim’s testimony. Defense experience is when witnesses / victims are unsure of their identification they merely point to the defendant at the defense table because…who else could it be. By waiving the client’s presence, the client was not in the courtroom, so victim could not see him. The victim was then cross-examined the victim intensely on the identity of her attackers. After cross exam was finished and Rich was convinced she had not described the client, the client was brought him back into the courtroom. When the victim was asked if the client was one of the attackers, she just described, she admitted he wasn’t and could not identify him. The case against the client was dismissed immediately.