Paralyzed and hooked up to a ventilator, David Chandler was two weeks from death when police arrived at his hospital room to question him about the person who shot him. They wanted to know if he could identify a suspect, and they had a photo to show him. Chandler was unable to communicate except with his eyes as he lay in bed attached to myriad tubes and with a brace around his neck.
His eyes opened barely more than a slit at times; he was instructed to blink three times for yes and twice for no. One detective quizzed him, and another videotaped his responses. Chandler didn't respond with blinks to every question in the minute video, and there were solo blinks. But triple blinks came in response to repeated questions asking if he knew the shooter and whether the person in the photo was the culprit.
Incident: David Chandler, left, identified, year-old Ricardo Woods right , who has now been charged with murder, felonious assault and weapons counts and faces up to life in prison if convicted. An upcoming murder trial hinges on the videotape of those blinks, a rare effort by a prosecution to show a defendant has been identified by gesture: the nod of a head, squeeze of a hand, blink of an eye.
Legal experts say such cases - while not unheard of - are unusual, and dying identifications relying on gestures rather than words are often not used in trials because of concern over reliability or differing interpretations.
But some have been used in murder cases around the country that have ended in convictions. Challenges facing jurors in such cases include determining whether victims are fully aware of what is being asked and are in control of their movements.
