The state's attorney presented to the jury three eyewitnesses
that had made a positive identification of me as the person they
seen commit premeditated murder. The eyewitnesses made their
identification at the police station - from a photo array
constructed from five photos that generally fit the description
the eyewitnesses had given of the perpetrator. A tall, slim, dark complexioned male in his mid
twenties, with long shoulder length
unkempt hair, full beard, wearing a black
T-shirt with white design or writing on it, light coloured pants
and tennis shoes.
The state's Attorney called each eyewitness to the stand and gave
them the photos to array - asking them which photo they had
picked out in their identification of the perpetrator. Each
witness picked my photo and with that the state's attorney asked
them if the person they identified was in the courtroom - each
witness responded yes and pointed to me. The eyewitnesses
basically all agreed they were outside sitting on a car when they
noticed two seemingly intoxicated men walking down the street.
They did not pay much attention to them at first but later heard
what sounded like glass breaking and noticed one of the men had
fallen. while the other man stood above him shouting what could
of been " Butch get up " - but were not sure what was
shouted. They estimated they were about 200 feet from the scene -
but had a clear view at approximately 9:00 pm at night - because
the two men were in an area between two street lights. The
witnesses went on to say the man standing began to walk around
the area - pick up what later was identified as a 35 pound
concrete block - walk back over to the man laying on the ground -
hesitate - then lift the block over his head and then throw it
down upon the head of the man on the ground. They estimated this
was repeated seven to nine times before one of the witnesses ran
up to 50 feet of the scene and shouted for the perpetrator to
stop - at which time the perpetrator looked directly at the
witness - dropped the concrete block and took off running down an
alley. Then a second eyewitness picked up the witness that had
shouted at the perpetrator and together in her car they gave
chase, but to no avail.
When the first police officer arrived on the scene - four
eyewitnesses basically gave the same description of the
perpetrator. Later that evening the eyewitnesses would go to the
police station to give formal statements - and it was there they
would pick my photo out of the photo array - stating I was the
only one it could be. In closing argument the state's attorney
made a point of telling the jury over ten times - that never once
did they hear the eyewitnesses waver in their identification was
overwhelming evidence as to guilt...