Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 284.0

Cite as: 558 U. S. 120 (2010) 

123 

Per Curiam 

witnesses  saw  a  man  dressed  in  dark  jeans,  a  cowboy  hat, 
and  a  black  satin  jacket  stumbling  in  the  road  between  the 
two trailers shortly after 1 a.m. 

The bedroom where the rape occurred was dark, and Jane 
was  unable  to  conclusively  identify  her  assailant.  When 
asked  whom  he  reminded  her  of,  she  mentioned  both  Troy 
and  his  brother  Trent.  Several  days  after  the  rape,  she 
identiﬁed a man she saw on television (Troy) as her assailant 
but then stated that the man who had sent ﬂowers attacked 
her.  It was Trent and Raquel who had sent her ﬂowers, not 
Troy.  She  was  unable  to  identify  Troy  as  her  assailant  out 
of a photo lineup, and she could not identify her assailant at 
trial.  The night of the rape, however, she said her attacker 
was  wearing  dark jeans,  a  black  jacket  with a  zipper,  boots, 
and  a  watch.  She  also  vividly  remembered  that  the  man 
“stunk  real,  real  bad”  of  “cologne,  or  some  beer  or  puke  or 
something.”  Id., at 172–173. 

Some  evidence  besides  Jane’s  inconsistent  identiﬁcation 
did  not  inculpate  Troy.  Jane  testiﬁed  that  she  thought  she 
had  bitten  her  assailant,  but  Troy  did  not  have  any  bite 
marks  on  his  hands  when  examined  by  a  police  ofﬁcer  ap­
proximately  four  hours  after  the  attack.  Jane  stated  that 
her  assailant’s  jacket  had  a  zipper  (Troy’s  did  not)  and  that 
he  wore  a  watch  (Troy  claimed  he  did  not).  Additionally, 
there was conﬂicting testimony as to when Troy left the Pea­
cock  and  when  Pam  received  Jane’s  call  reporting  the  rape. 
The  witnesses  who  saw  a  man  stumbling  between  the  two 
trailers  reported  a  bright  green  logo  on  the  back  of  the 
jacket,  but  Troy’s  jacket  had  a  yellow  and  orange  logo.  Fi­
nally, because Jane thought she had left a night light on when 
she  went  to  bed,  the  police  suspected  the  assailant  had 
turned off the light.  The only usable ﬁngerprint taken from 
the  light  did  not  match  Troy’s,  and  the  police  did  not  ﬁnd 
Troy’s ﬁngerprints in the trailer. 

Other  physical  evidence,  however,  pointed  to  Troy.  The 
police recovered semen from Jane’s underwear and from the