Thread by @ryanjreilly

If she were interested in examining the actual facts of this case, there’s actually an interesting backstory here!

Spoiler: It wasn’t just dismissed because of some political agenda.

First of all, for context, the alleged behavior at issue came about as law enforcement violently cleared protesters from public streets surrounding the White House ahead of Donald Trump’s photo-op in front of a church. So bad set of facts to begin with.

Here’s the law enforcement narrative about the case. The National Capital Region Facial Recognition Investigative Leads System played a major role in identifying the alleged suspect here. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

In a motion to suppress in June, the defense argued that law enforcement had botched the ID process in this case. Facial recognition "led to an identification procedure that was unreliable and unduly suggestive. The evidence was "fruit of the poisonous tree,” the defense argued.

Defense also pointed out a simple fact: "Facial recognition algorithms are less accurate at identifying African Americans than other racial and ethnic groups.”

Defense argued the court "should not allow algorithmic racism to infect Mr. Peterson’s case.”

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

The defense argued that the identification process was "hopelessly tainted” and that officers appear to have "assumed that Mr. Peterson must have been the suspect, and used the facial recognition software to rationalize their assumption.”

Here’s the timeline:

06/25/2021: Defense files motion to suppress.

07/07/2021: Prosecution asks for extension to respond.

07/08/2021: Judge sets 7/16/2021 deadline.

07/13/2021: Government backs down, files motion to dismiss.

Pretty critical context there!

Facial recognition is playing a major role in the Jan. 6 Capitol investigation, and that didn’t seem like a case prosecutors wanted to hang their hat on.

It’s actually easier for law enforcement when facial recognition is outsourced.

huffpost.com/entry/facial-r…

If a name just drops in their lap from the public, even if it was off of a vetted facial recognition hit, law enforcement can go to town with it. huffpost.com/entry/logan-ba…

When the feds have built a case off of their own facial recognition hit, they’ve REALLY checked all the boxes. They even sent in undercover agents into this defendant’s store after they got a facial recognition hit off his girlfriend’s Instagram account. huffpost.com/entry/facial-r…

Anyway, this is why context and links to primary source documents are so essential. Very easy to hide the ball and spin a bogus narrative with just a few screenshots.

Another complicating factor in this case: the ongoing civil lawsuit over law enforcement’s behavior that day.

https://twitter.com/zoetillman/status/1437768958308982798