State Of Tennessee v. Coley

32 S.W.3d 831 (Tenn. 2000)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

Sarah Blumberg and Jennifer McMillen were working at an ice cream shop. A male entered the store. After placing an order, he brandished a gun and ordered one of the employees to put the store's money into a bag. He forced the employees into the store's walk-in freezer. The employees stayed there until they heard a customer enter the store. They called the police. No physical evidence was recovered. They helped the police prepare separate composite pictures of the robber. Nine days later, Blumberg observed a photographic line-up which included D's picture. She identified him as the robber. Five months later, McMillen saw the same photographic line-up. She identified D. P's case was the eyewitness identifications. D offered an alibi defense, maintaining that another person had committed the robbery. D wanted Michael G. Johnson, Ph.D., J.D., an expert in the field of eyewitness identification, to testify. P objected because it would not assist the jury in deciding the identification issue. The court refused to admit Johnson's testimony. The court allowed a proffer for the record and the expert's testimony would have covered topics: 1. the process of eyewitness identification; 2. the relationship between stress and memory of an event; 3. cross-racial identification; 4. the confidence the witnesses have in the accuracy of their identifications and the actual accuracy of their identifications; 5. the effect of time on the accuracy of memory; and 6. the suggestibility of the photographic line-up used in this case. D was convicted and appealed.