Opinion ID: 1908289
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: unnecessarily suggestive lineup

Text: In support of his argument that the pretrial lineup violated due process, the appellant points out that although all descriptions of the victim's assailant depicted him as wearing a moustache, only four members of the six-man lineup had moustaches, of which one was less noticeable than the others. There was also some disparity in the heights of the six persons. Finally, defendant asserts that since there was a possibility that the witnesses who identified the accused in the lineup might have discussed the matter among themselves prior to the individual viewings, all evidence resulting from the lineup should have been excluded. We find no merit in these arguments. Since Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967), a two-part test has been utilized to determine the admissibility of identification evidence. [1] The first inquiry is whether police used an unnecessarily suggestive procedure in obtaining the out-of-court identifications. If so, the second inquiry is whether considering the totality of the circumstances, the suggestive procedure was such as to give rise to a substantial likelihood of misidentification. Manson v. Braithwaite, ___ U.S. ___, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977); Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972); Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968); Stovall v. Denno, supra . See also State v. Colby, 361 A.2d 256 (Me.1976); State v. Caplan, 353 A.2d 172 (Me.1976). Although the Justice below made no specific finding of fact and merely denied the defendant's motion, [2] we conclude from the record of the hearing that the lineup was not unnecessarily suggestive. To the contrary, we find the police procedure in this case exemplary and, therefore, we describe it in some detail. There were three ladies who had seen the victim in company with the assailant at a specific locus in Bangor prior to the alleged assault. These three, with the victim, were assembled in a room at the police station and each was given a ballot on which each wrote the figures 1 through 6. Next, each lady, individually, was escorted into a room, faced a lineup of six males and, without comment, was allowed time for inspection. The numerical position from left to right of the six subjects in the lineup remained constant for each viewing. [3] Each viewer was then escorted to another room, asked to circle the number representing the suspect and sign the ballot, which was preserved. As each viewing and balloting was completed, the lady was isolated from those who had not yet inspected the lineup. When the viewings were completed, an inspection of the ballots indicated that the four had identified the appellant as the person they had seen with the victim. Although all the participants in the lineup were distinguishable from each other, this lineup did not have any of the elements that we have previously determined to be unnecessarily suggestive. We said in State v. Rowe, 314 A.2d 407 (Me.1974), that one man showups are inherently suggestive. We have found also that a lineup is very suggestive whenever only the defendant wears a distinctive and significant piece of clothing. State v. Northup, 303 A.2d 1 (Me. 1973); see also State v. Boyd, 294 A.2d 459 (Me.1972). We do not believe that the failure of all participants in the lineup to resemble each other closely necessarily tended unfairly to single out the defendant. If such were to be the rule, it would be virtually impossible to assemble a properly composed lineup. The defendant was not the sole member of this scenario with significant and distinctive features. All participants bore some resemblance to the defendant in terms of general complexion, color of hair, etc. We find no merit in the argument that because two of the six members in the lineup were without moustaches, witnesses would unfairly single out the defendant. We have previously stated that a three-man lineup did not in itself present a question of unfairness. State v. Boyd, 294 A.2d 459 (Me.1972). The possibility that witnesses might have conferred prior to viewing the lineup has not been shown to have prejudiced the defendant. The record shows that the witnesses had not previously seen the lineup nor on that day had they seen any of the members of the lineup until each witness individually was taken to the room in which the lineup was held. In reviewing this total procedure we find that it was exemplary in almost every aspect. We need not consider, therefore, the second inquiry of whether any suggestive procedure was such as to give rise to a substantial likelihood of misidentification.