Opinion ID: 1107941
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: was it error for the trial court to allow lineup identification testimony where the appellant's sixth amendment right to counsel was violated?

Text: Under our law a participant in a lineup has a right to have a lawyer present if the lineup is held after adversarial proceedings had been initiated against him. Jimpson v. State, 532 So.2d 985, 988 (Miss. 1988); York v. State, 413 So.2d 1372, 1383 (Miss. 1982). At the time of the lineup Magee was in custody in the sense that he was not free to leave. He was thus effectively under arrest. Floyd v. State, 500 So.2d 989, 992 (Miss. 1986). Proceedings against him had reached the point where he was entitled to an initial appearance and advice of his right to counsel. Rule 1.04 Miss. Unif.Crim.R.Cir.Ct.Prac. (1979). The right to counsel effectively attaches after arrest and at the point when the initial appearance ought to have been held. Jimpson v. State, 532 So.2d 985, 988 (Miss. 1988); May v. State, 524 So.2d 957, 967 (Miss. 1988); Nicholson v. State, 523 So.2d 68, 77 (Miss. 1988). Assuming arguendo that Magee's right to counsel at the lineup was violated, the point profits him nothing. Mrs. Simmons did not identify Magee at the lineup. Moreover, as we have held above, Mrs. Simmons' in-court identification testimony was not impermissibly tainted by anything that occurred at the lineup. Accordingly, the technical violation of Magee's right to counsel at his lineup becomes harmless constitutional error beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 21, 87 S.Ct. 824, 827, 17 L.Ed.2d 705, 709 (1967); Jimpson v. State, 532 So.2d at 989. The point regarding the photographic lineup is even less meritorious. A photographic lineup is not a critical stage. Accordingly, an accused enjoys no right to counsel in connection with a photographic lineup. Nicholson v. State, 523 So.2d 68, 71-72 (Miss. 1988); Johnson v. State, 359 So.2d 1371, 1374 (Miss. 1978); See also United States v. Ash, 413 U.S. 300, 321, 93 S.Ct. 2568, 2579, 37 L.Ed.2d 619 (1973). The assignment of error is denied.