Two years after Louisville paid $8.5 million to a man wrongly convicted of homicide, the city’s police department has adopted policies to prevent false confessions and eyewitness misidentification, reports the Courier-Journal. While the Innocence Project says the changes are positive, its state policy advocate says they fall short because they “merely suggest instead of require” the use of best practices to reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions.
The policies also omit a key recommendation in a National Academy of Sciences report issued last week — that witnesses be required to state in their own words how confident they are in identifying a suspect, so they don’t exaggerate their certainty when they testify months or years later at trial. Metro Police Col. Ozzy Gibson, who led a review of the policies, said they are designed to give officers some flexibility and may be subject to additional review. Police are still investigating what caused Edwin Chandler’s wrongful conviction in 1995 and whether the detective in the case should be charged with perjury and other crimes.