First Name | Steven |
Last Name | Phillips |
Year of Conviction | 1982 |
Year of Exoneration | 2008 |
Testing inculpated culprit | Cold Hit |
State of Conviction | Texas |
Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
Type of Crime | Rape |
Death Sentence | No |
Gender of Exoneree | Male |
Race of exoneree | White |
Juvenile | No |
Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense | ● Defense argued that victim misidentified defendant. |
Did the defendant testify at trial? | No |
Types of evidence at trial |
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Identity of eyewitness |
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Multiple eyewitnesses | 10 |
Lineup Procedures |
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Suggestive Procedures | Yes ● Suggestive line-up – others in photo array did not match description ● Victim not told attacker might not be in line-up |
Quotes from testimony #1 | Officer agreed that none of the others in the photo array had the receding hairline or mustache (but no beard) that the victim described. Victim recalled “He just asked me to look at them and see if I could identify anyone, and that was all. There was virtually no conversation between the two of us.” |
Unreliable Identification? | Yes ● Victim could not see attacker’s face ● Discrepancies in description – hair, eye color |
Quotes from testimony #2 | Described attacker as having “deep blue eyes” and “dark hair” Attacker had a sweat shirt hood up “loosely around the top of his head” and had a rag covering his face “from the tip of the nose down.” |
Highest level reached | State Post Conviction |
Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction |
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Harmless Error Rulings |
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Citations to judicial opinions | Phillips v. State, 2005 WL 1460648 (Tex. App.‐Dallas 2005) |