Summary
Perry v. New Hampshire: U. S. Supreme Court review of a habitual thief's claim that his constitutional rights were violated by the admission of eyewitness testimony in his trial for burglarizing a car. On August 15, 2008, at 2:53 a.m., Barion Perry was caught in the parking lot of an apartment building carrying stereo equipment stolen from a nearby car. A woman, whose husband reported the crime, identified Perry as the man she saw break into a car in the well-lit parking lot and steal the equipment. Her husband also identified Perry as the man he had seen wandering around the lot looking into parked cars. At trial, Perry challenged the testimony of the woman arguing her identification of him was unreliable and therefore violated the 14th Amendment (the Due Process Clause) of the Constitution. The judge disagreed, the testimony was admitted, and Perry was convicted. Perry’s claims regarding his identification by the witness were later rejected by the New Hampshire Supreme Court on direct appeal. When the U. S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Perry’s appeal, CJLF joined the case to argue that, except in cases of police misconduct, the Constitution leaves rules governing the introduction of evidence to the states. A decision supporting the thief would have allowed criminals to waste years and millions in tax dollars with federal court challenges to eyewitnesses. The Supreme Court agreed with our position and affirmed the conviction by an 8-1 vote. [CJLF brief in PDF.]
