Convicting the Innocent
DNA Exonerations Database

Marcus Lyons

First Name Marcus
Last NameLyons
Year of Conviction1988
Year of Exoneration2007
State of ConvictionIllinois
Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty PleaTrial
Type of CrimeRape
Death SentenceNo
Gender of ExonereeMale
Race of exonereeBlack
JuvenileNo
Type of Innocence Defense
  • Alibi
Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense

Missing defense case portion of trial transcript

Did the defendant testify at trial?Yes
Types of evidence at trial
  • Eyewitness
Identity of eyewitness
  • Cross Racial Identification
  • Victim
Lineup Procedures
  • Composite drawing
  • Lineup
  • Photo array
Suggestive Procedures

Yes ● Suggestive line-up – only one in six was wearing a shirt and tie and only one repeated ● Victim not told attacker might not be in line-up

Quotes from testimony #1

Officer told victim – “I related to her that I had a series of photographs that I would like her to look at, and in looking at them, to look carefully and only identify a picture if she knew that was the offender.” "And as a matter of fact, among those six photographs, is there one photograph that the collar of a dress shirt and a tie is clearly visible? A. Yes. Q. And that is to the exclusion of the other six, correct? A. Correct. Q. And that one photograph is of my client, Marcus Lyons, correct? A. That’s correct." The victim “saw the photo lineup with my client’s picture in it one day and five other people, and the next day, she saw a physical lineup with my client standing in it and five people that presumably she had never seen before and certainly are not included in that photo lineup, correct? A. That’s correct. Q. But there is one guy that was the same both days, right? A. That’s correct.”

Highest level reachedNR