The Innocence Files Season 1, Episode 6 recap: Making Memory

Episode 6 of Netflix’s The Innocence Files: Thomas Haynesworth.

After examining the case of Franky Carrillo, the Netflix series The Innocence Files delves deeper into the problems of eyewitness identification. This time, the case involves Thomas Haynesworth of Richmond, Virginia, who served 27 years based on eyewitness identification by rape victim Janet Burke, who believed Haynesworth was her attacker in January of 1984.

Burke was attacked by a Black man with a knife in a series of rape attacks in the area (there were at least three other known victims). In looking at the case, we are reminded of the trauma faced by victims. Burke says she became more alert about sounds in general after her experience, and she started taking different routes to work each day.

The Innocence Files: How Thomas Haynesworth was targeted

The Innocence Files: A new copycat or the original criminal?

Once Thomas Haynesworth was identified and convicted as an attacker, it would be harder to prove innocence in other cases he was accused of. Yes, the other crimes were also pinned on Haynesworth. After getting sentenced to 74 years in prison in October of ’84, Thomas tells us that, after a while, even he questioned whether he did or not, such as whether he committed the crimes in his sleep.

While incarcerated, rapes continued, however, with the rapist calling himself “the Black ninja.” Eventually, this new suspect was identified as Leon Davis. However, The Innocence Files reveals that Davis was not just a copycat. He also committed the original rapes that were pinned on Haynesworth.

Eyewitness Identification Expert Jennifer Dysart suggests that Janet Burke made errors in judgment because she was stressed. Also, more generally, when people are being attacked, their attention will tend to focus more on the weapon than the attacker’s features.

The Innocence Files: DNA rolls into town

After years of incarceration, Thomas Haynesworth refused to confess. However, by the 2000s, DNA evidence was already being used to exonerate people such as Marvin Anderson, who was assisted by The Innocence Project in a Virginia case.

Luckily for Haynesworth, evidence was not destroyed in his case, all because lab tech named Mary Jane Burton saved evidence in her notebook! This led to Thomas Haynesworth being exonerated in 2011.

The Innocence Files: What made Janet Burke misidentify Haynesworth?

In its interview with Janet Burke, he tells The Innocence Files that she was told the suspect was in the lineup. She adds that she put other people at risk by unknowingly putting the wrong person behind bars.

The experts also mention the “cross-race effect,” where white witnesses more easily incorrectly identify people of another race. They might claim hairlines are similar, even though they are noticeably different on closer inspection, for example. The series is careful to note that this phenomenon might apply to other races identifying people, too.

The Innocence Files: Hurdles to freedom

The Innocence Project worked hard to exonerate Haynesworth, but once he was exonerated by DNA in another case, it seemed to get the ball rolling. The Innocence Project’s Peter Neufeld says the Judges were being irrational because not everyone recanted their eyewitness testimony.

Ultimately, 6 judges declared him exonerated, just barely enough, which meant the man was wrongly imprisoned for 27 years. Janet Burke says she went in a downward spiral after exoneration, feeling like she was a victimizer. However, now she works with Thomas Haynesworth on addressing issues like flaws in eyewitness identification.

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