0:00 The victim looked at David Lee Wiggins in the live lineup.0:04 She had seen his photograph before, and hadn't recognized him.0:09 But now, in person, under the sterile lights of the police station, something clicked.0:16 A memory, she thought, was forming.0:19 That single, powerful moment would send a man to prison for decades.0:25 Last week, Admin, we talked about unraveling a case one painstaking detail at a time.0:32 Today, we're looking at how that first thread gets woven… and how easily it can be the wrong one.0:40 It was 1989.0:41 David Lee Wiggins was convicted of rape in Fort Worth, Texas.0:46 The case against him was built almost entirely on the testimony of the victim.0:52 In court, she pointed her finger.0:55 She was certain.0:56 She testified she was “over 100 percent” sure he was the man.1:01 As Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once wrote, “There is almost nothing more convincing than a live human being who takes the stand… and says, ‘That’s the one.’” The jury believed her.1:17 Of course they did.1:19 She was a victim, genuinely believing she was identifying her attacker.1:25 And that belief is a powerful, persuasive force in a courtroom.1:30 But here is what the court record also showed.1:34 A detail that was overlooked.1:36 When first shown a photo lineup that included Wiggins, the victim did not recognize him.1:43 It was only later, after seeing him again, that her certainty began to grow.1:49 This isn't unusual.1:51 And it isn't a sign of dishonesty.1:54 It's a sign of how memory actually works.1:57 It isn't a video recording, played back perfectly.2:01 It’s a reconstruction, and every time we recall something, we can change it.2:08 Stress, suggestion, the simple desire for justice… it can all contaminate the memory.2:15 Psychologists know that feedback from an officer, even an unintentional nod, can inflate a witness's confidence.2:24 Their memory hardens around a mistake.2:27 For twenty-four years, David Lee Wiggins lived inside that mistake.2:32 The turn didn't come from a dramatic confession.2:36 It came from science.2:38 The Innocence Project took on his case, and they didn't just argue David's innocence.2:45 They argued against the very evidence that convicted him.2:50 They brought decades of psychological research into the courtroom, research showing that eyewitness testimony is the single greatest contributor to wrongful convictions.3:04 It’s a factor in nearly seventy percent of cases overturned by DNA.3:09 They showed how a witness's confidence can grow over time, becoming strongest long after the event, when the memory itself is at its most fragile.3:21 They put the procedure on trial.3:24 The breakthrough was the court’s willingness to finally listen.3:29 To accept that a witness can be absolutely sincere, yet absolutely wrong.3:35 New evidence demonstrated the initial identification was a mistake, a product of a flawed process.3:43 The victim’s memory hadn't been a lie; it had been contaminated.3:49 In 2013, David Lee Wiggins was finally exonerated.3:53 He had spent more than half his life in prison for a crime he did not commit.3:59 His case, and others like it, forced changes.4:03 Better lineup procedures.4:05 Double-blind administration, where even the officer doesn't know who the suspect is.4:12 Recording a witness's confidence level at the very first identification, before it has a chance to inflate.4:20 David Wiggins walked out of the courthouse a free man.4:25 But the person who was convicted all those years ago… that person was a ghost, created by a memory that wasn't real.
