Attorney Lown won a “not guilty” jury verdict for his client who was mis-identified as the man who threatened two women with a gun. Attorney Lown’s client was walking from his mother’s house when he was stopped by two police officers and told that he matched the man’s description. The officers searched him but found no gun. They then detained the client and staged a “show-up” identification. In a "show-up" the victims are shown just one person who is surrounded on both sides by police officers. Predictably, most victims doing a "show-up" pick the one individual. In Lown's case the victims were never shown a lineup or a series of photographs. Attorney Lown argued that the show-up identification was suggestive because it suggested to the victims who they should pick.
A defense expert testified that various factors such as stress lower an identification’s reliability. And that in a lab study, identifications made under even ideal conditions had an accuracy rate of just 65%. The jury found reason to doubt the government’s case and they delivered a quick acquittal.