When One Identification Influences the Others: The Franky Carrillo Case

In January 1991, 41-year-old Donald Sarpy was standing in the driveway of his home in Lynwood, California, when someone fired several shots from a passing car. Sarpy was killed. His teenage son and five of his friends were nearby when the shooting occurred.

Six eyewitnesses would eventually identify 16-year-old Franky Carrillo as the gunman.

On paper, that sounds like an exceptionally strong case. One mistaken witness might be understandable, but six people identifying the same person seems much harder to dismiss. The problem was that the six identifications were not independent of one another.

One single witness started the chain.

How Carrillo Became a Suspect

Carrillo first came to the attention of police after he was mistakenly identified as the shooter in a separate incident. On the night Sarpy was killed, investigators showed Carrillo’s photograph to Scott Turner, one of the teenagers who had been present during the shooting. However, Turner later identified Carrillo as the gunman.

Afterward, Turner told Sarpy’s son, Dameon, and the other boys who had been at the scene that Carrillo was the person who fired the shots. Approximately six months later, the other five witnesses viewed a lineup and also identified Carrillo. By the time the case went to trial, prosecutors had six witnesses who could tell a jury that Franky Carrillo was the shooter.

Carrillo maintained that he was innocent.

His first trial ended without a verdict because the jury could not reach a unanimous decision. Before the second trial, Turner recanted his identification. The other five witnesses, however, continued to identify Carrillo as the gunman. Carrillo was convicted in 1992 of murder and six counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.

There was no physical evidence connecting him to the shooting. The prosecution’s case depended on eyewitness identification.

The Identifications Began to Unravel

Carrillo continued trying to prove his innocence from prison. Years later, while reviewing files from his defense investigation, he found notes concerning a man who had been present during the shooting. According to those notes, the man had admitted that he, not Carrillo, was the gunman.

That information eventually became part of a much larger reinvestigation of the case.

When Sarpy’s son was confronted with additional information, he acknowledged that he had not actually been able to see the shooter clearly enough to identify him. He explained that he identified Carrillo because Turner had told him Carrillo was the gunman. The other eyewitness accounts began to fall apart as well.

At a later court hearing, the witnesses recanted their identifications. Turner testified that police had pointed Carrillo out to him, and his identification had then influenced the other teenagers.

The defense team returned to the scene and reconstructed the shooting. The conditions raised serious questions about whether the witnesses could have seen the gunman’s face well enough to make a reliable identification from where they had been standing.

In March 2011, a judge vacated Carrillo’s conviction. Prosecutors later dismissed the charges because the eyewitness testimony on which the original case had depended was no longer reliable enough to support another prosecution.

Carrillo had spent almost 20 years incarcerated.

Six Witnesses Did Not Mean Six Independent Sources

Carrillo’s case is a good example of why the number of eyewitnesses cannot be considered without examining how each identification developed.

If six people independently observe an event and separately identify the same person without discussing the incident or being influenced by one another, those identifications may provide meaningful corroboration. That was not what happened here.

Turner identified Carrillo and then told the other witnesses who he believed the shooter was. Those witnesses later selected Carrillo themselves. By the time the case reached court, the jury heard several people identify the same defendant, but those identifications had grown from the same original source.

An investigator reviewing a case like this should not stop after counting how many witnesses selected the defendant. The history of each identification has to be reconstructed.

Who identified the suspect first? What did that witness say before seeing a photograph or lineup? Did the witnesses discuss the incident with one another? Did anyone tell another witness who police suspected? Were photographs shown more than once? How certain was each person during the original identification? Could the witnesses actually see the offender clearly from their location?

Those questions can completely change how multiple identifications should be evaluated.

Why Re-Interviewing Witnesses Can Change a Case

Carrillo’s conviction also shows why criminal defense work should not end with the statements contained in the original police reports.

Cases can take years to reach trial, and post-conviction cases can remain open much longer. During that time, witnesses may become willing to explain things they did not disclose earlier. Their memories may change, relationships may change, and information about how an identification occurred may emerge only after someone asks the right questions.

A defense investigator can locate witnesses, obtain current statements, compare those statements with earlier accounts, visit the scene, examine sight lines and distances, and determine whether independent evidence supports what witnesses have said.

The purpose is not to convince a witness to change a story. The investigator documents what the witness actually remembers and determines whether the account can be checked against other available evidence.

Carrillo’s case eventually reached that point. The question was no longer simply whether several people had identified him in 1991. Investigators and attorneys began examining how those identifications had developed and whether the witnesses had actually been in a position to make them.

The answers looked very different from the case that had originally been presented to the jury.

Independent Investigation Can Separate Corroboration From Repetition

Franky Carrillo went to prison after several witnesses told a jury he was the gunman. Years later, those identifications were traced back through the circumstances in which they had developed, the witnesses acknowledged problems with their testimony, and a reconstruction raised additional questions about whether they could have seen the shooter clearly enough to identify him.

A defense investigator examining eyewitness evidence should look beyond the final statement in a police report or the name selected from a lineup. Understanding how the identification developed can be just as important as knowing whom the witness eventually identified.

Carrillo spent almost two decades in prison before that history was fully examined. His case is a reminder that six people repeating the same conclusion does not necessarily mean six people independently reached it.

Tinsley Investigations also provides attorney support services for criminal defense teams, including witness interviews, evidence review, investigative research, scene documentation, and other fact-development work that can assist counsel in preparing the case for negotiation or trial.This article is part of Tinsley Investigations’ series examining eyewitness testimony, wrongful convictions, and the importance of independent criminal-defense investigation.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for general educational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. Every criminal case is different. Anyone facing criminal charges should consult a qualified criminal-defense attorney regarding the facts and circumstances of the case.

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