Chicken Sandwiches and the Reliability of an Honest Witness

It is often assumed that reliability problems with witnesses in criminal cases are caused by witnesses who are intentionally dishonest. While that is sometime true, there are reliability issues that can arise even when a witness is trying to be 100% honest. Consider the incident described below involving a police officer and his chicken sandwich.

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Honest Witnesses with Reliability Problems

A news story involving a chicken sandwich and a police officer illustrates an issue that can often become a problem in criminal jury trials in Utah and elsewhere. The incident involved allegations made by a police officer who believed that employees at a fast food restaurant had tampered with his meal. Subsequent investigation revealed surprising information about the true chicken sandwich culprit.

The Police Officer and the Chicken Sandwich

The Sandwich – On his way to work, a police officer purchased a chicken sandwich from a fast food chain restaurant. He then reported for his assigned shift. On arrival, he put his food in the breakroom refrigerator to eat later.

The Missing Bite – After a few hours on duty, the police officer went to the refrigerator to retrieve and eat his chicken sandwich. When he opened the wrapper, he discovered that a bite had been taken out of the sandwich.

Reason for Concern – Other well-documented incidents of tampering with food served to law enforcement officers have resulted serious injuries or health effects to officers. This officer was therefore concerned with the apparent tampering. An investigation was launched.

The Investigation – The officer returned to the restaurant and personally spoke with a supervisor. The supervisor did not know anything about the alleged tampering, but assured the officer that the restaurant would look into who was working the food line at the time and investigate to determine who might have tampered with his food. The officer’s department also began its own investigation.

Exonerating he Restaurant – After nearly two weeks of investigation, the department issued a statement with the results of the investigation. In the statement, the department indicated that the restaurant had cooperated with the police investigation. Further, the investigation had determined that no restaurant employees were involved in the alleged tampering incident.

Identifying the True Culprit – Beyond clearing the restaurant and its employees of any suspicion, the investigation revealed the identity of the real culprit. The person ultimately identified as taking a bite out of the police officer’s chicken sandwich was . . . the officer himself.

The officer had initially stated that he “knew” he had not taken a bite of the sandwich. He therefore assumed that one of the restaurant employees must have tampered with his food because of his status as a police officer. Through the process of investigation, the officer ultimately remembered that he had in fact taken a bite of the chicken sandwich before he placed it in the refrigerator.

Good Intentions Assumed

For purposes of this article, we will presume that the officer had only good intentions. We will presume that he truly did forget that he had taken a bite of his own sandwich. We will presume that he initiated the investigation into the restaurant and its staff with only the most honorable of motives. The Constitution does, after all, guarantee a presumption of innocence for all – including police officers.

Attributing only the best of intentions to this police officer, the chicken sandwich incident still illustrates an issue that can frequently become a problem in the criminal jury trial process. Simply put, even the most honest witness can be wrong.

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