[NorthMountain]

Studies have shown that when the actual perpetrator is not in the police lineup, witnesses often pick the wrong man, who then comes to replace the original offender in their memory of the crime. In Beerntsen's case, as in Thompson's and Carrington-Artis', the actual perpetrator, revealed by DNA evidence years later, was not in the original lineup.

Fascinating.

I wonder if that bit of information gets passed on to juries.

Having served on two juries, I have somewhat the impression that the function of the court is to give the jurors the "mushroom treatment".

[Jonty30]

I think the assumption is that the victim thinks the police have their man and he’s in the lineup, so they pick the one who most resembles what they remember.