Bill Would Change How NM Crime Suspects Are Identified
By ABC-7 Reporter/Anchor Veronique Masterson
DONA ANA COUNTY, N.M. — The Dona Ana County sheriff says a proposed bill changing how suspects are identified would lead to more mistakes, but a defense attorney says it would make identifying suspects more neutral.
Dona Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison said he is frustrated bya bill proposed in the New Mexico state legislaturecalled the Reliable Eyewitness Identification Act.
Garrison believes it would lead to more mistakes, saying it “has caused more people to be accused of something they didn’t do.”
It was sponsored by state Rep. Joseph Cervantes, who is also a defense attorney.
Under the proposed bill, law enforcement would have to present 10 photographs of possible suspects to a witness one by one.
Currently a witness identifies a suspect from six pictures shown at the same time, called a six-pack.
The bill would also require line-ups to be different, with the witness seeing suspects one at a time rather than all at once. The process would be handled by a third party not involved in the case and be videotaped.
A defense attorney said the proposed bill could keep an innocent person from being identified. “It eliminates the potential for abuse and there’s no chance of it being a suggestive confrontation between the person, the witness who is identifying that individual,” Joe Arrieta said.
But a sheriff’s spokesman said the change would not be as effective.
“The current procedure that we use works. It has proven that it works. We feel that there’s no reason to change it. We also believe another reason that the bill was proposed was due to the fact that the legislature is made up of defense attorneys,” Dona Ana County Sheriff’s spokesman Bo Nevarez said.
Garrison said all the proposed bill would do is increase unnecessary work for investigators and add costs to provide for the resources.
Lawmakers were discussing the proposed bill on Thursday. If both the New Mexico House and Senate pass the bill, it would go into effect July 1.
