Opinion ID: 728946
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Jojola's in-court identification

Text: 31 Jerry Jojola, the conspiracy's former New Mexico marijuana supplier, testified that he was robbed of his drugs by Bell, McGee, and Clifford Brown in Albuquerque. Prior to Jojola's testimony, Bell moved to suppress any potential courtroom identification on the basis that it would be unduly suggestive. The district court denied Bell's motion, and Jojola subsequently identified Bell at trial as one of his assailants. It is undisputed that Jojola had never been asked to make any sort of out-of-court identification prior to trial. Following the courtroom identification, Bell moved for a mistrial, which was denied. 32 In order to determine whether the courtroom identification denied Bell due process, we apply the two-part test set forth in Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977). First we must determine whether the identification was impermissibly suggestive. If it was, we then ask whether it created a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification under the totality of the circumstances. Id. at 116, 97 S.Ct. at 2254 (quotation omitted). We need proceed no further than the first half of the test. The mere fact that Jojola's identification of Bell took place for the first time at trial does not necessarily render it impermissibly suggestive. Since this court does not require in-trial identifications to be preceded by pretrial lineups, see United States v. Wade, 740 F.2d 625, 628 (8th Cir.1984), the only issue is whether [defendant's] presence at the defense table ... constituted impermissibly suggestive procedures. United States v. Murdock, 928 F.2d 293, 297 (8th Cir.1991). It did not. Bell, a male caucasian, was seated at defense table alongside his defense counsel, Kime, and Kime's defense counsel, all of whom are also male caucasians, as were the vast majority of individuals in the courtroom that day. This exact configuration had already, in fact, produced a prior in-court misidentification when Nelson wrongly identified Bell instead of Kime as one of the individuals who robbed and assaulted him. Based on these facts, we cannot say Jojola's in-court identification of Bell was impermissibly suggestive. 33