If the victim nor witness picked a suspect from a line-up, shouldn’t they be released and the charges dropped?
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If the victim nor witness picked a suspect from a line-up, shouldn’t they be released and the charges dropped?
My son was at the cemetery, grieving the loss of his brother who had just passed away in a tragic accident. He was with my daughter her baby and a friend of the families. My daughter said a truck pulled into the cemetery and came over to where they were, then people got out and hugged my son and told him they were sorry for the loss of his brother. They asked him if he wanted to smoke a blunt, he said ,
Asked on July 31, 2019 under Criminal Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 4 years ago | Contributor
No a failure of witness identification, by itself, does not require that the charges be dropped, because there is other types of evidence than witness identification. Being with people who were committing a crime, for example, may be evidence of complicity; or having other defendants state that your son was involved in the crime; or any statements by him that may have incriminated him; etc. Ultimately, he cannot be convicted of a crime unless there is evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed a criminal act; however, the amount or quality of evidence required to charge someone is much lower than the evidence required to convict, so there may be enough that the charges do not need to be dropped at this time.
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