Thomas H. Washington, Jr. v. United States

COFFIN, Circuit Judge:

Appellant was convicted by a jury of a rape committed at about two a. m. on August 6, 1965, in Fairlawn Park.

The defense was alibi. Both the victim and her escort identified appellant as the assailant. The issue before the jury, therefore, was the reliability of the identification. That issue turned on the physical conditions at the scene of the crime.

The testimony before the jury was that the part of the park where the attack occurred was not shaded by trees. It also appeared, however, that there were no lights in the park, the only lighting coming from an adjacent…