This version of the lineup is an
attempt to use brightness and contrast to lighten the photographs and to show
more detail. By rearranging them into a portrait format, the photographs can
also be slightly enlarged.
Now, how well did the driver witnesses
do? Only two of those witnesses made any identification at all. After viewing
the lineup, Dr. Robert Brusie, the veterinarian that passed the muffler shop
driveway at 9:30 PM and saw a police officer wearing a white shirt in the
patrol car with its dome light on, made an identification by stating: “Its
either 1 or 3.” Of course Dr. Brusie had met Chapel only weeks before when
Chapel answered a “horse down” call and shot the animal where Dr. Brusie
indicated. Brusie would not remember the incident until at trial 2 ˝ years
later when he was reminded of it.
Witness Karl Kautter, who was a
passenger in the car that was passed by a patrol car a few hundred feet north
of the driveway, at first identified photograph 1. He then changed his mind by
saying: “No, he’s too tall,” and then identified photograph 3.