Brickbat: A Picture Tells a Thousand Words

Police in Portland, Ore., received tips that Tyrone Lamont Allen was the man who committed robberies of four banks and credit unions. One problem. Allen's forehead and right cheek have fairly large tattoos. No witnesses described the robber having tattoos. The solution? Cops used Photoshop to remove Allen's tattoos from photos they showed to witnesses in a lineup. Some of those witnesses, looking at the altered photos, picked Allen out of the lineup as the robber. Cops didn't tell Allen's defense attorney what they did. He only found out because he noticed the altered photo in material prosecutors gave him. He has asked the court to throw out those witnesses IDs.