Handbook of Psychology, Forensic Psychology by Alan M. Goldstein

Author:Alan M. Goldstein
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Psychology
ISBN: 9780471619208
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 1987-04-01T05:00:00+00:00

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SPECIAL APPLICATIONS

had difficulty providing a good description of the man’s nose and mouth, so the

sketch artist included “a nose that fits with [the] face” (Innocence Project Northwest,

2010, p. 9). The composite was widely distributed, and tips soon began coming in

that a local logger named Alan Northrop resembled the sketch. A few days after the

assault, police constructed a photo montage including photographs of Northrop.

Later that day, the montage was shown to the victim, who did not identify anyone

as the perpetrator. (See Figure 17.1.)

The lack of a positive identification stalled the investigation. Weeks passed and

investigators were not receiving any solid leads on who the blond assailant might be;

however, tips kept coming in that Alan Northrop resembled the composite sketch.

With this as their only lead, investigators began looking to Northrop’s acquaintances

for individuals who might fit the description of the blond assailant. On February 2,

3 weeks after the crime, investigators questioned Steven Shade, whom they thought

fit the description of the blond man. Shade denied any knowledge of the crime but

did agree that the composite resembled Northrop, and pointed police to another of

Northrop’s friends, Larry Davis, as fitting the description of the blond assailant. The

investigators created a second photo montage including Davis’s photograph. (See

Figure 17.2.) According to the police report, when viewing this montage later the

same day, the victim positively identified Davis as her assailant saying, “That’s not

him, but that’s the one” while pointing to the photograph of Larry Davis. However,

in subsequent testimony, the victim stated that she did not say that—rather, she

testified that she said the individual may have been the one of the two who

assaulted her, but she could not identify his face; however, his neck looked familiar

and that she “fe[lt] like [she] kn[e]w this guy” (Innocence Project Northwest, 2010,

p. 11). Regardless of what she actually said, investigators viewed her statements

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Figure 17.1

Composite Sketch Constructed of Perpetrator (left) and Northrop Photo

Montage (right; Alan Northrop is in position #3)

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