*Extrinsic Proofs* ARCS p.293 #2 and #4

Evidence of the senses can be reliable in certain instances, but you have to take into account that person's motives as well.#1. For example, the book "Monster" which is about an African-American boy accused of participating in a robbery of a gas station, which resulted in the murder of the owner of the store.  One man that testified against the boy, whose name was Steve Harmon, had clear ulterior motives that biased his testomony. The jury seemingly took this into consideration and found Steve Harmon innocent, even though there was definately racial tension present among the all-white jury.  The man had been in jail for a while, and obviously thought that helping to convict another person in a homicide would deduce his sentence and get him out of jail early.  He would be considered a proximate authority, because he was definately not a well-respected community authority, that based his testimony on the senses of seeing and hearing.#4. The man did not pass the tests of reliability; therefore, he was not a credible witness to testify against Steve Harmon.  It also hurt him that he was in jail, which further deterioated his reputation. Another woman, who testified against Harmon, was shopping in the store when she witnessed the robbery. Some argued that she was distracted and wasn't in the right "state of mind" to perceive the events credibly.  While, these arguments were downplayed, the jury took all these things into account when figuring out Steve's verdict.