Sheriff’s deputies arrested the wrong person in the Saturday shooting and injuring of two innocent bystanders near the Mall of Louisiana.

Meco Damon Green was released from East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Tuesday less than 48 hours after being booked on four counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Deputies arrested Green late Sunday after witnesses identified him in a photo lineup as the person who fired a handgun into a crowd Saturday near the Mall of Louisiana.

Following the arrest, deputies received a Crime Stoppers tip that implicated Johnny Williams as the shooter, who admitted to firing the weapon.

Michael Leneal Burrell was also arrested for allegedly supplying Johnny Williams with the gun he is accused of using in Saturday’s shooting, an affidavit of probable cause says.

Burrell is also accused of being involved in the argument that led to the shooting and for giving Williams a ride away from an area outside the mall where the incident occurred.

Williams was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on four counts of attempted first-degree murder. Burrell was booked on the same counts.

This story is a good example of how misidentification occurs in a criminal case.   People can be wrongfully accused based on what other people think they saw at the scene of a crime.  In fact, confidence in one’s perception does not always equate accuracy.  Furthermore, people typically perceive what they expect to perceive.  Therefore, a witness’s testimony is not always the truth.

If you have been charged with a crime, contact Baton Rouge Criminal Lawyer Carl Barkemeyer.

Source: The Advocate, “One man released in mall shooting, another arrested,” January 10, 2012.