Convicting the Innocent
DNA Exonerations Database

Steven Phillips

First Name Steven
Last NamePhillips
Year of Conviction1982
Year of Exoneration2008
Testing inculpated culpritCold Hit
State of ConvictionTexas
Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty PleaTrial
Type of CrimeRape
Death SentenceNo
Gender of ExonereeMale
Race of exonereeWhite
JuvenileNo
Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense

● Defense argued that victim misidentified defendant.

Did the defendant testify at trial?No
Types of evidence at trial
  • Eyewitness
Identity of eyewitness
  • Victim
Multiple eyewitnesses10
Lineup Procedures
  • Composite drawing
  • Photo array
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 reachedState Post­ Conviction
Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction
  • Brady
  • Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
  • Motion for DNA Testing
Harmless Error Rulings
  • G
Citations to judicial opinions

Phillips v. State, 2005 WL 1460648 (Tex. App.‐Dallas 2005)
Phillips v. State, No. 05‐83‐1058‐CR (Tex. App.‐Dallas 1984) andPhillips v. State, No. 05‐82‐01260‐CR (Tex. App.‐Dallas 1984)
Phillips v. State, 2005 WL 1819598 (Tex. App.‐Dallas 2005)