APPEALS COURT HOLDS LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IS NOT OBLIGATED TO GIVE NONMATCHES FROM FACIAL RECOGNITION SEARCHES TO DEFENDANTS

An appeals court in the State of Florida has ruled that a criminal defendant, who was identified and convicted after a law enforcement agency matched his photograph to one in the agency's database, through the use of facial recognition software, was not entitled to copies of all the non-matches returned by the program. Readers of this blog may recall that we have previously discussed the issues when the case was pending on appeal. If you identify a Financial Criminal through Facial Recognition Software, must you Disclose that ? Published September 10, 2018.
 
The First District Court of Appeal held that the failure of the trial court to order a turnover of the photographs that did not match the defendant was not a violation of Brady vs. Maryland, as they did not cast doubt on the State's case. Brady requires that the State disclose any material that could exonerate the defendant, to the defense.

The Court reasoned that there was no reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different is the suppressed documents had been disclosed to the defense. The photographs not turned over did not resemble the defendant, and therefore would not have supported his argument that someone else in the photos committed the crime. The conviction was affirmed. Readers who wish to read the complete text of the opinion may access it here. The citation is  Willie Allen Lynch v. State of Florida, Case No. 1D16-3290 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018). [There is no Southern Reporter citation available yet].