Opinion ID: 1898380
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Johnson identification

Text: A key witness was Oliver Johnson, who told the jury that when he went to Helen Thompson's apartment, he saw a black male whom he had never seen before. Later, in Carmichael's apartment, he noticed a red baseball jacket hanging on a chair. Carmichael told him that the jacket belonged to the other male. When the unknown male returned to Carmichael's apartment, Carmichael introduced him to Johnson as Joe Long's brother. Johnson claimed that he did not like Joseph Long, so he left. He said he had been at a bus stop about 8:10 p.m. when he saw the other man walk past him wearing a red baseball jacket and cap. On Sunday night he went to Carmichael's apartment, where he discovered that Carmichael had been severely injured. Johnson told the police about the other man with the red baseball jacket and cap at Carmichael's apartment. He did not say that this man had been introduced to him as Joseph Long's brother. It was not until January 6, 1983, after defendant had become the primary suspect through other witnesses, that the Atlantic City Press ran an article about the shootings and defendant's picture with his name underneath furnished by the police. The article described both shootings, listed the victims, and identified defendant as the suspect. Johnson gave various conflicting statements to the police, but at the time of trial he claimed he was positive that when he saw defendant's picture in the paper, he made the identification in his own mind. The defense sought to attack Johnson's testimony by asserting the unreliability of the police-suggested newspaper photograph, and offered as well to produce the testimony of an expert witness that such a related identification was inherently unreliable. The court refused to permit such expert testimony.