News On 6 Reporter Puts TU Law Students Through 'Eyewitness Test'

Police say one of the most helpful things you can do after seeing or being the victim of a crime is be able to describe the suspect; but most of us aren't very good at it.

A lot of victims say it happened too fast or they were so scared, they couldn't think straight. So how reliable is eyewitness identification in finding criminals and seeing them convicted.

Some TU law students were put to the test to show just how tricky it can be.

Professor Tamara Piety told her class News On 6 was there to shoot a story on wrongful convictions, but, we were really there to stage a minor crime and see how well the students could describe the suspect.

The students had no idea they were about to be put to the test.

They were caught off guard when News On 6 Photojournalist, Todd Ruffin, ran into the classroom and committed a crime. Some were confused, others concerned.

“You've just witnessed a crime. He stole my purse. I want you guys to take out some paper and sketch what he looks like and write down his description. We are going to see how good you might be at being an eyewitness,” News On 6 reporter Lori Fullbright told the class.

Some immediately began writing down their own recollection, but others, after witnessing something unusual, begin talking it over with others, coming up with a collective memory.

"I said he had blue pants on, a striped shirt, had a name tag like a mechanic's shirt,” one student said.

Another said, "He was wearing a blue hat, t-shirt and blue jeans."

"I had no idea. I knew he had a hat and that was it,” one man remembered.

"I got a blue blur, I didn't see anything else,” said another student.

Some people thought he had a goatee, others thought it was a five o'clock shadow, and when they asked how old they thought the criminal was, they said anywhere from 30 to 50 years old.

"I said it's a middle aged man,” one student said.

Most students guessed our bad guy at around 5-feet-11, but, his weight was trickier.

"Maybe 195? 195. 220. Brian says 220,” one student said.

After all the guessing, it was time to have a look at our pretend bad guy.

"I am 38 years old, and I am six-feet-two, approximately 225 pounds,” Ruffin told the class.

Most got the style of his shirt right, but the color and stripes were wrong. The majority got the color of his hat wrong and most everyone thought he was in jeans, not gray work pants.

Even the sketches the students drew widely varied.

Back in June, when police identified serial rapist Desmond Campbell with DNA, many people questioned how the sketch of him, made by the victim, could look so different from his picture.

7/8/2014 Related Story: Tulsa Police: Serial Rape Suspect Desmond Campbell Dies

Police see this over and over, especially when victims or witnesses are in high stress situations like violent crimes. Plus, it can take months to testify and what seemed clear in the moment can fade.

Tulsa man Arvin McGee was sentenced to 365 years in prison for rape, based largely on the eyewitness account of the victim, but was freed 13 years later, when DNA proved he was innocent.

Lori: "What do you think about this experiment? Does it make you think twice?"
Student: "Yeah, it would make me think twice."

Another student said, "Your thought of what he actually looks like gets molded by other people, so I would be very hesitant."

This wasn't a scientific experiment but it does make you think about eyewitness descriptions.

If you want to get good at describing someone, practice when it doesn't count, then maybe you can do it when it does count.

Professor Piety said there's some interesting research that says if a witness seems very sure about their description, they're more likely to be believed by police and juries, but, also more likely to be wrong.

The people who seem unsure, are more often right, but, less likely to be believed.