Changing photo lineups could improve identification, advocates say

By CHEYNA ROTH
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan has cleared more than a dozen people who were wrongly identified as suspects by eyewitnesses since 1989. Lawmakers and advocates are working to reduce the chances of it happening again. Sen. Steve Bieda, a Warren Democrat, said he hopes to introduce newly re-drafted legislation this spring that studies and task forces suggest will reduce the number of wrongful identifications by changing the suspect photo lineup procedure. The current primary method for photo identification in Michigan involves an officer aware of who the potential suspect is laying out six side-by-side photographs. This method is flawed, says Nancy Diehl, former co-chair of the Special Committee on Eyewitness Identification Task Force, and it contributes to the No.