United States v. Wade Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

United States v. Wade - Case Study Example During the trial, Wade's legal counsel tried to get an acquittal for their client based upon their belief that the Fifth Amendment Rights of their client was violated as the line up was done without any legal counsel present to advise the accused of his rights. The courts denied the motion, resulting in the conviction of Wade in the end (n.d., â€Å"United States v. Wade). This led the defense to file a motion before the Supreme Court in order to request that they resolve the issue of allowing courtroom identifications of an accused to be excluded from evidence since the events surrounding the identification process was done without the presence of counsel. The events before the trial at the post indictment line up was therefore illegally conducted and was violation of his client's Fifth Amendment Rights (n.d., â€Å"United States v. Wade†). They requested that the Supreme Court overturn the decision of the lower court in the process. The Supreme Court however, did not find a ny reason to dismiss the case against Wade. It was the opinion of the court that the lack of counsel at the line up proceedings could not be seen as a violation of the accused Fifth Amendment Right against self incrimination. ... That is, provided that the prosecution would be able to support the pretrial line up identification the accused with a solid and valid court identification of the accused as well (n.d., â€Å"The United State v. Wade†). Therefore, it was the opinion of the court that the Fifth Amendment Right to self incrimination was not violated in this case as the line up identification did not show that there was any testimonial or communicative evidence that needed to be suppressed. On the other hand, the Sixth Amendment Right to counsel was violated in the pretrial proceedings since the accused had a right to legal representation during critical stages of the pretrial proceedings, specially during the identification stages. Proper witness identification can easily be influenced during an investigation due to the nervousness and trauma that the witness had to endure during the incident. Therefore their memory recall of the perpetrators and the events as it unfolded may have a cloud of dou bt about it. That is why the police rely on certain variables in order to ensure that the eyewitness accounts are as accurate and court admissible as possible. The key factors relating to the accuracy of witness identification, that can easily offset the suggestiveness and bias of show ups include (Moses, â€Å"Misidentification: the Caprices of Eye Witness Testimony in Criminal Cases†): â€Å"(1) Perception; (2) Memory; (3) Communication; and (4) Candor. â€Å" However, these traits are not easily acquired by people and therefore affects the way that a witness gives an account of the things that happened during the incident, thereby making the witness prone to suggestive questioning. Let us remember that perception is created by the events as the witness wants to