Eduardo Velasquez

• Alibi

● Friends described defendant’s whereabouts the night of the crime

“Q: Yes, on December 9th of 1987, did you attack a woman with a knife, sir, in Chicopee, Massachusetts? A: No, sir. Q: Mr. Hernandez, did you have anything to do with this case whatsoever? A: No, sir, I had nothing to do with this.”

• Eyewitness
• Forensic Evidence

• Hair
• Serology

• Vague
• Valid

Hairs were described as “within the range of the known submitted hairs from” the defendant and serology analyzed stain on defendants’ own underwear.

• Cross Racial Identification
• Victim

• Showup

Yes ● Show-up – properly conducted immediately following the incident ● Suggestive remarks

Police strongly encouraged victim to identify the suspect – “Then I expressed that it was important that she did look at this person, because we had the suspect, person, in the immediate area, and he did fit the general description, and if she would look at him and identify him, it would make the investigation much easier, because if she did not look at this person immediately, which he had volunteered to come and do, that we would not be able to locate him at a later date, it would make the investigation much more complex and it would be harder to summons him in, we would have to bring him to court.” “A: I don’t remember the exact word, whether she used suspect or — I knew that they had someone who fit the description, the general description, that the would be bringing for me to see.”

No ● Discrepancies in description – height, weight, facial hair – mustache, goatee

“He asked me to describe the man who had raped me, and I described him as about five ten to five eleven, I asked Officer Pollard how much he weighed and tried to — I gave a guess of — he thinks I said about a hundred seventy pounds, I’m not sure.” Defendant was “about five-eight, five-eight and a half, a hundred forty-five pounds.” Victim described curly hair – but not mustache or goatee, which the defendant wore.