atrick Waller was identified by four victims as one of two attackers in a 1992 robbery and sexual assault in Dallas. Though all four victims identified Waller as one of the attackers, one witness was not certain. Records indicate that the detective pointed toward Waller’s picture and said that two other eyewitnesses had already identified Waller as the perpetrator. Even so, the eyewitness remained uncertain and did not testify at trial.
Waller was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced to life in prison. He pled guilty to two counts of kidnapping to avoid more jail time, but he proclaimed his innocence throughout his appeals.
False eyewitness identifications sent Patrick Waller to prison for over fifteen years.
In June of 2008, DNA testing excluded Waller in the crime. Investigators ran the DNA profile from the crime scene through the state DNA database and it matched with Byron Demond Bell, a man who had been paroled in February of 2008 after serving fifteen years of a forty-five-year sentence for burglary. When questioned, Bell admitted to the attack and named Lemondo Simmons as his accomplice in the crimes. Both men testified to their guilt in front of a grand jury, but neither would be prosecuted for the crimes because the statute of limitations had expired. Bell’s parole officer stated that the crimes would be taken into consideration if Bell ever violated the terms of his parole.
Because of mistaken eyewitness identifications, Patrick Waller spent more than fifteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
