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Witnesses who lie or are just plain mistaken are the leading reasons innocent people get sent to prison. A new national database lists more than nine hundred wrongful convictions, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, Florida has its share.

Al Crotzer went to prison in 1983 for a rape he didn’t commit. At the time of his arrest he was 5 foot 7, 150 pounds. Never mind the vicim first described a 6 foot, 200 pound light skinned black man.

“From the beginning, I did not fit the description,” Crotzer said.

Reporter: But you were convicted?

“Yes, I was, just on eye witness identification alone, and that’s what really convicted me. There was no physical evidence in my case,” he said.

It took more than 2 decades before DNA proved Crotzer innocent.

“If you wrongly convicted me for 24 years, 6 months, 13 days, and four hours, then that monster that really committed that crime ran around for 24 years, 6 months, 13 days, and 4 hours doing the same thing,” Crotzer said.

Misidentification by eyewitnesses is one of the leading causes of innocent people going to prison.

The reason? Detectives sometimes send cues during a line-up or photo line-up, pointing at one photo more often than another.

The Innocence Project has pushed legislation called double-blind.

“Which means that the administrator doesn’t know whether the suspect is or is not in the line-up. It removes the ability to influence the person who is making the identification,” Seth Miller, Innocence Project of Florida Executive Director said.

In Florida, the legislation cleared the Senate in 2011, but died in the house. Police agencies were given voluntary guidelines but their adoption has been haphazard, so your chances of being wrongly convicted vary depending on where you were arrested.

False confessions are also a major factor in wrongful convictions. Defendants tell wild stories which couldn’t possibly be true, trusting the system to set them free, only to find out otherwise.