Please answer the following scenario:

Karen, an African American 26-year-old, left work late last Sunday evening. It was very dark out and she struggled to find her keys in her purse. As she was walking to her car a man came up behind her and forced her into his vehicle. The man raped her, beat her and left her on the side of the road. When police found her, they took her to a hospital where she was given a rape kit. Two days after the assault police went to Karen's house where they asked her to look through a book of mug shots. She looked for about an hour or two but did not find the man who had raped her to be in any of the pictures. The police asked her for a description of her attacker to which Karen responded, "He was tall, white, and overweight". A few days later the police heard of a paroled sex offender (Thomas) who had bragged about a recent rape in the same area Karen was raped. Based on this lead, the police put together a lineup with Thomas' picture in it. They brought Karen in and showed her the lineup without any instructions. When Karen saw the lineup she hesitated for a few minutes and said, "I think it's number 4" (a filler). Detective Batista (the lineup administrator) said, "Are you sure? Can you take a look at number 1 again" (Number 1 was Thomas' picture). Karen hesitated again and said, "yeah, I guess it could have been him". Detective Batista then said, "Great. We've got our guy!" The police arrested Thomas and interrogated him about his involvement in the rape and why he had bragged about it. Thomas said he was just messing around with his friends and that he was not Karen's rapist. The police did not believe him and took his case to court and a jury convicted Thomas of the rape and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

You have been hired by the court to evaluate this case. As a legal psychologist please outline some of the major issues involved in this case. Discuss anything from issues with Karen's memory (e.g., the three processes we discussed in class) to how the police conducted the lineup procedures (administering the lineup) and Karen's performance in the lineup procedures. How would you help Thomas? Remember, you are a legal psychologist so show that you know the relevant research, policy guidelines, and terminology associated with the issues in this case.