Now we are done for the day. 

 

Outside the presence of the jury, the judge denied the usual motions of judgment of acquittal on all charges, except trafficking in stolen weapons, Judge Bruns wants to take that under advisement. 

Donahue confirmed on the record that he will not testify in trial.

He said it was his own decision. 

 

Judge Bruns says closings will likely start Monday.  The trial will resume 9:30 am. Monday. 

Thanks for following today and all week. We are almost close to the end.

See you Monday! 

Judge Bruns says closings will likely start Monday.  The trial will resume 9:30 am. Monday. 

Thanks for following today and all week. We are almost close to the end.

See you Monday! 

The prosecution rests. 

Deputy Matt Oltmann is recalled to the stand. 

Oltmann: He can't say if Donahue's van had a sensor that could detect if someone was sitting in the passenger seat or driver's seat. 

There's no light on dash, no electrically wiring from dash to seat. He think's is unlikely it had sensors. 

Stiefel on cross: You only looked into this on Feb. 14?

Oltmann: Yes. He thinks another deputy may have but couldn't find out.  

Stiefel: You can't ruled out the possibility that an airbag would only deploy if someone was sitting in passenger seat?

Oltmann: No.

Oltmann is excused.    

Abel is excused. 

Abel: Donahue owned van. They didn't run test on driver shift because good chance his DNA would have been on it.

If others DNA would have been in van wouldn't have been of any value.

No other suspect. There's no information or evidence to suggest any of these other people were involved with this crime. 

Donahue didn't say they wouldn't find his DNA or fingerprints in this crime. he said it would false identification. 

 

Abel under re-direct: Breath test of Michael L. Gomire was dated Jan. 20, 2021.

Funeral program of Mary Gomire, prior to 2021. Jan. 18, 2021 - letter to Michael Gomire. Letter to Marcus, 2020. 

Expired insurance card of Michael Gomire, March 17, 2021.

June 24, 2021, police ran informtion about Michael Gomire. 

 

 

Judge calls for a break. Be back in 15 min. 

Abel: He never tried to contact others - Gomires and Reynolds. 

Jacob Christianson didn't tell anyone about officer that showed him a photo of suspect. Abel never found out who showed it to him. 

A line up was never considered to show witnesses - Casey's employees and Deputy Heath Omar.

 

Stiefel: There was a pair of white Nike shoes in van. Did you test for DNA?

Abel: Yes. He doesn't know if they were tested or not. 

 

This is correct spelling of Gomire. Just saw it on exhibit. I will correct in blog. 

 

Stiefel asks Abel to identify some documents. Michael Gomeyer's driver's license and other items. Belonged to Michael and Marcus Gomeyer and Gilbert Reynolds. 

Abel: Letter of Michael Gomeyer found in center console of van. Letter of Gilbert Reynolds in center console. Tax return for Donahue and breath test for Michael L. Gomeyer - found in passenger side of van.

Michael Gomeyer ID card and insurance card found in van. 

Driver's license of Michael L Gomeyer found in van.

Boost mobile business card underneath driver's seat - phone number came back to Carolyn Roberson. Abel doesn't know who she is.       

Donahue told him it was "my business" when Abel asked him about his background. 

Donahue said "Whatever happened, it happened."  

 

Donahue: He doesn't know what Abel is talking about. 

End of video

Abel: Donahue accused him of being racist because Abel asked if they had met before. 

He told Abel that he was wasting him time. Just walk out of room. 

Donahue said he was panhandling - why he had money in his pocket. 

Donahue said he was 25, he was 36 at the time.  

When Abel asked about Dodge van, Donahue bought it 3 days before. 

Donahue said he never touched a gun. 

Donahue: Never touched a gun. 

Abel: He believes Donahue had a gun. 

Donahue: Says he won't been seen on video from store. It will be false ID.

He has no questions for Abel. 

Abel: Why are you homeless. 

Donahue: He was in Chicago June 20. 

It's difficult to hear Donahue on the video in the courtroom. 

Donahue won't give Abel his name. Says "No name."

He won't say his name is Stanley Donahue. 

He reads him Miranda rights. 

Donahue: He's homeless. He walked to Caseys. He doesn't know anybody. He doesn't have a car.

Donahue: He hitchhiked. Doesn't know from where. He has alzheimer's. Hasn't talked to his sister, Lisa. 

Donahue: He doesn't where he stayed. He doesn't know anything about robbery. He doesn't have a phone. He doesn't have shoes. Never been in Casey's. 

They will play video of Donahue's interview with Abel.  

Abel: He conducts line up if suspect isn't known. Put suspect in line up with five others who look similar. Tells witness they may or may not be in the line up, could have different hair style. Have a different officer do line up. 

No line up done in the this case. He was registered owner of van and gun and  Halverson identified him as man who shot him. 

He found out later the Jacob Christianson had been shown a single photo of suspect. Abel was not happy. It wasn't approved by anyone. He found about it almost a year later. That ID wasn't considered. 

Donahue height was consistent with robbery suspect.  

Abel: Names on documents in van. 

Michael Gomeyer, 58, he's 5-9, 275 lbs.

Michael L. Gomeyer, 24, he's 6-2, 170 lbs. 

Marcus Gomeyer, 22, hes' 5-7, 145 lbs.

Gilbert Reynolds, 68, 5-7, 226 lbs 

Tax return for Donahue had his address as 9126 S. Buffalo Ave, Chicago, same address for Marcus, Lisa Donahue, Michael L.

Abel found a funeral service information for Mary Gomeyer funeral program - her mother is Lisa Donahue, and her siblings, Marcus, "little Mike" and Stanley Donahue. 

 

 

Abel: He couldn't get into Donahue's cell phone found at Casey's after robbery. He didn't have passcode.

   

Back to the prosecution's case. 

Sgt. Yon Abel resumes his testimony from Wednesday.  

He was testifying about video of suspicious person. He was 6 foot.

Abel previously said Donahue matched description of suspicous person that was seen outside the store earlier on June 20. 

 

We are back 

Judge calls for lunch break. Be back at 1:35 p.m. 

Lampinen: If all the recommendations are followed and if witness is highly confident, can have reliable ID. 

Lampinen under redirect: If person had 1 in a million features like a FU tatoo. 

I think Maybanks was referring to the way Donahue walks. He walks with his legs wide apart and kind of shifts his weight from one foot to the other.  

Lampinen is excused. 

Lampinen: If witness is directly looking at someone, recognition is better. 

Mug shot exposure, decreases reliability of ID. 

Consistent ID increases reliability. 

No scientific studies regarding in court IDs. Can't do that in real conditions. His opinion is based on other psychologists' opinions. 

 

Lampinen: Studies on cross race - can decrease accuracy but doesn't say there is no accuracy.

If someone grew up with different races, they could be reliable in identifying a suspect of a different race from witness. 

 

Lampinen: If person has one million feature, ID line up probably not needed. 

 

 

Lampinen: If person has one million feature, ID line up probably not needed. 

 

 

Lampinen: He has concluded there are best practices for witness ID.

When police did proper ID, it's important to compare it to real police case. 

Eyewitness testimony isn't needed if someone is caught at scene of crime. 

If person caught in possession of stolen items, probably not needed. 

Not needed if suspect is on video committing the crime or physical evidence found at scene of crime. 

Lampinen under cross: More than 20 hours on this case - he estimates. 

He's written a lot of articles on child witness accuracy, memory from real life events. He could testify about those. 

He hasn't published on false confessions. He supervised master cases on those. 

Lampinen: Reasons why false IDs happen - witnesses are motivated to help police and they want to see someone held responsible for the crime, but if wrong ID is made it can cause real consequences. 

In some studies, people who have high confidence in their IDs but they can still be  mistaken. If given feedback or suggestive info, it can inflate confidence. 

There have been studies where multiple people have made mistaken IDs.  

Lampinen is being paid $225 an hour. He has testifed about 9 times before. 

  

Lampinen: There should be a line up with one suspect and rest fillers. They should are be dressed and look similar. 

The witnesses shouldn't be given any feedback about their ID decision or be told by police that they think this is suspect. 

 

Lampinen: When someone received confirmation from police when ID is made, it makes the person more confident in decision. 

He doesn't know any studies of in court identification and how reliable they are. These would be would prosecutor asks a witness 'Do you see the man you saw rob the store in the court room today?'

There have been wrong identifications made and suspect was later exonerated based on that.     

Lampinen: Photo bias is seeing someone's photo before identification attempt. Seing that photo makes you more likely to select that person. 

One study showed people who saw the photo before line up, they mistakingly picked wrong person 80 percent of the time.

Lighting in this study was normal inside lighting. 

Seeing photo more than once after event would lessen reliability in line up. 

Seeing photo would make that face more familiar. You might think it's the suspect because it seems familiar to you.  

Lampinen: When a show up is conducted. police shouldn't instruct person on whether this is the suspect or not.

When it's suggested - like police says they think they caught person - if innocent and suspect similar in looks, identify about 3 out 4 times. 

Witnesses wouldn't think police would show them this person if they weren't suspect.     

Lampinen: Recommendation is that the police should document a description before a show up is done, police shouldn't show person in back of squad car or say they think this is the suspect.

Police shouldn't say anything affirming their identification or not.   

Lampinen: Length of time affects reliability between incident and identification. Some are 5 min., others 9 months. 

Immediately after incident - better reliability. After 9 months, about 10 percent could identify in line up. Line ups more reliable than show up - when one person is shown. 

Two major concerns with show ups. One they are suggestive - police wouldn't show this if the person wasn't guilty. Other concern is structural issue. If that person is innocent, they could be charged or convicted. With a line up, someone isn't just focused on one person and less chance of identifying wrong person. 

We are back 

Lampinen: System variable also affects identification. A police line up of severel people, police may give instructions to them, tell them a person is guilty. 

Show up - shown a single individual. Line up - shown several people with suspect and innocent people 

Judge calls for break. Be back at 10:50 a.m.   

Lampinen: If suspect is a stranger, identification can be affected because their appearance can change and they aren't familiar with them. Harder to recognize the second time you see them. 

 

Lampinen: Study involving bank tellers, crimes - forgeries - were staged in bank. The suspects would get upset when tellers wouldn't accept them. They were given line ups with one of them being the suspects. They picked out correct one most of the time. 

Without the suspect in line ups, 40 percent of the time the tellers would pick out innocent person.

  

Lampinen: Study on exposure time that a person had to a suspect's face. One was brief time, others for a longer time.

Better recognition when they saw a person identifed as a culprit for a shorter period of time. 

When exposure time is 2 or 3 sec. of person seeing a suspect, they found one 70 percent of the time. When suspect had a gun, they identified 50 percent of the time.      

Lampinen: Study on identifying someone from another race - Like a white man has to identify a Black man. Shown photos of individuals of their own race and others of a different race.

There have also been line ups that way. One study involved sending people to convenience stores who are Black, white and Hispanic and they pay for items with pennies and they ask for directions. 

A  few minutes later clerks were asked if they can identify these people. 

The clerks were more successful picking members of their same race. 

  

Lampinen: another study people were taken into room with medical equipment. A person comes in the room with big long needle and says she's going to give someone a shot. Then she has to leave room.

Then they are asked to pick out that person. The study found false identications went up. 

  

Lampinen: In a study on high stress interrogation - less reliability to pick out interrogator.

Presence of weapon can affect identification. In the study, a weapon is in one identification scenario and not in another. Less reliability when a weapon is presence. Focus is on weapon. Less time to focus on something else - like suspect's face. 

 

Lampinen: In studies on identifcations made of suspect with head coverings, these show the lighting was adequate. One study showed they saw person for 30 sec or so. 

 

 

Lampinen: Studies show police officers aren't any better witness than civilians. Everyone develops face recognition abilities at a  young age. 

Lampinen: Estimator variable is something that can affect reliability. Like lighting. 

Lampinen: What would help identification - time to see them, less stress, see person's entire face. 

Lampinen: What hinders identification - far away, poor lighting, partial view of face, witness different race from suspect

Stiefel: What causes high stress levels

Lampinen: When personal safety is threaten

Lampinen: Head covering - like a hat - harder to recognize person. It reduces reliablity of identification. 

 

 

Lampinen will testify about witness identification. 

 

James Lampinen, University of Arkansas psychology associate chair and distinguished professor, takes the stand. 

Background on Lampinen

 

The defense expert will testify out of order and will be next up. Prosecution's last witness will follow him. 

 

Jury just came in.

Judge is taking up some things with the lawyers. Jury hasn't come in yet. 

Good morning all! They will get started in a few minutes. I'm hearing that the defense expert may testify out of order because he's from out of state. 

So that witness may testify before the prosecution's last witness.