n 1982, Johnnie Earl Lindsey’s picture was included in a photo lineup that police sent in the mail to a White Rock Lake woman who had been raped a year earlier. In addition to the highly problematic nature of the photos being mailed to the witness, the photo lineup itself was highly suggestive. Lindsey was one of only two men in the photo lineup not wearing a shirt, and the victim had described her attacker as shirtless. The victim identified Lindsey as her attacker.
Johnnie Lindsey spent nearly twenty-six years in prison as a result of a highly suggestive photo lineup.
At trial, the victim’s identification of Lindsey was the sole piece of evidence against him. Lindsey presented an alibi that he was at work, pressing pants at a commercial laundry business during the time of the attack. He even had time cards that showed he was at work when the crime occurred. However, Lindsey was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Post-conviction DNA testing of the biological material from his case excluded Lindsey as the perpetrator of the rape, and he was released on September 19, 2008.
Because of a mistaken eyewitness identification, James Earl Lindsey spent almost twenty-six years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
