Robert Simpson - Cook County State's Attorney

Defendant also maintains that he should be granted clemency because he did not havethe benefit of the commission’s recommendations concerning the weight to be given eyewitnesstestimony. The courts have held that the line-up identification procedure utilized in this caseconformed to constitutional standards. The record establishes that the line-up identification ofdefendant as the person who shot and killed Barbara Lindrich was free of any suggestivenesswhatsoever. The defendant was identified without hesitation in the line-up held on May 26, 1992,by witnesses Kathryn Koszut, Ruth Morford, Angela Fields and Kimberly Knight. Each of thesewitnesses viewed the line-up separately and were not allowed to speak with each other eitherbefore or after each viewed the line-up. The eyewitness testimony in this case was strong and itwas never controverted. As the Supreme Court stated,At trial, three employees present in the FairwayFood store on the day of the offenses identified defendantas the man who was behind the service desk holding agun. A customer in the store on the day of the offensesalso identified defendant at trial as the man she sawpassing in the lane next to her, after she heard a male say,“This is a stick-up,” and heard a loud “pop.” At trial twoof the same three employees and the customer identifiedone of the guns recovered from defendant’s storage lockeras the weapon they saw defendant holding at the time ofthe offenses.People v. Simpson, 172 Ill. 2d at 126. Given the number of eyewitnesses and the strength of theiridentifications of defendant as the killer leave no doubt that defendant would not have benefitedfrom the commission’s recommendation in this regard.Finally, defendant asserts that an independent lab did not test the forensic evidence in hiscase. Again, he points to no flaw in the testing procedures employed in his case. This is sobecause no such flaws exist. Defendant cannot seek clemency on this ground.36