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The exoneration of a wrongfully convicted man who spent two years behind bars for a 1987 knifepoint assault represents an example of how flawed identification procedures can contribute to miscarriages of justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal said yesterday.
"Mistaken eyewitness identification is the overwhelming factor leading to wrongful convictions," the court said in its reasons for wiping clean Anthony Hanemaayer's record in June.
Paul Bernardo's jailhouse confession to the assault paved the way for the exoneration of the 40-year-old roofer from London, Ont.
Hanemaayer pleaded guilty partway through his 1989 trial for the assault of a 15-year-old Toronto girl, opting for a sentence of two years less a day instead of the stiffer six- to 10-year term he faced.
It was the mother's eyewitness identification that formed the entire case against him nearly 20 years ago.
"No fault can be attributed to her," the justices wrote in a decision released yesterday.
"She honestly believed that she had identified the right person.
"Even the appellant, who knew he was innocent, was convinced that the trier of fact would believe her," the justices wrote.
The court also questioned the photographic lineup then in use by the police.
"The danger is that the witness may choose the picture from the array that is the best fit," the court said.
It also said the officers conducting the lineup were involved in the investigation and knew the identity of the suspect.
"There is a danger that the investigating officer may, even if not consciously, convey information to the witness to cause her to select the suspect," the justices wrote.
