Opinion ID: 1476601
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: What About the Other Evidence?

Text: The testimony of Lewis Bailey, the reluctant witness, was not the only inculpatory evidence presented to the jury at Archer's trial. The State also presented eyewitness testimony from the two surviving victims of the robbery-homicide, Rudolph Lyons and William Faulkner. Lyons was adamant in his identification of Archer as the man with whom he first struggled, and who subsequently shot him in the eye as he lay on the sidewalk: [Prosecutor:] Now, the person that you said approached you and put the gun in your stomach and tussled with you, that's the same person that stood over you and shot you in the face? [Lyons:] Yes. [Prosecutor:] Is that person in the courtroom today? [Lyons:] Yes. [Prosecutor:] Where is that person seated? [Lyons:] Right there. That's the person that shot me in my eye and tried to kill me. He thought he killed me but he didn't. You just took my eye. That's all you did. And you scarred me for life. [Prosecutor:] Indicating the defendant for the record.    [Prosecutor:] How many times did you actually see his face? [Lyons:] When he got up on me and hewhen he put the gun in my stomach, I'm looking him right in his eyes. And he grabbed for my chain. That had to take a few seconds. I got the gun away from him and when we got to tussling, I'm still looking at him. And then when I get shot in my shoulder and I fall and turned around, this is the same person standing over the top of me looking me dead in my eye and pulled the trigger. The apparent certainty of Lyons' identification was unshaken during cross-examination. The second victim, William Faulkner, also testified that he recognized Archer as one of the three men involved in the robbery-homicide. Although Faulkner saw Archer's face only after he ran across the street once the shooting began, he positively identified Archer at trial. Additionally, two years prior to Archer's trial on 9 December 1999, both Lyons and Faulkner independently picked out Archer in a live police line-up.