Opinion ID: 492031
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Identification of Nedam Annabi

Text: 70 Nedam Annabi was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 841 and 846, and on one count of possession of heroin, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Secs. 812 and 841 and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2. On appeal, Annabi challenges the in-court identification of him by the witness Jorge Luis Audinot as being the product of impermissibly suggestive pretrial identification procedures and as being inherently unreliable. 71 The district court conducted a Wade hearing with respect to Annabi's motion to suppress Audinot's identification. At the hearing, Audinot testified that he had met Nedam Annabi, whom he knew as Joe, during the course of two drug transactions in August 1984. Audinot stated that on the first occasion he was together with Joe for twenty minutes in an apartment that was illuminated with electric lights, and that he conversed with him at a close distance of two or three feet. Audinot specifically recalled that at this meeting, Joe said something in Spanish so well that I looked at him, [and] I said, '[y]ou said that pretty well'  (emphasis added). On the second occasion, Audinot was together with Joe for about fifteen minutes in the kitchen of the same apartment, where they talked to each other and to others who were also present for the subject drug deal. Audinot characterized the conversations at the second meeting as a little bit more friendly than at the first meeting and stated that he shook everybody's hands. Audinot later learned from Sami Annabi that Joe was Nedam Annabi, Sami's brother. 72 Audinot also testified at the hearing that he saw Nedam Annabi on two or three other occasions in late 1984 or early 1985 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC). Audinot stated that at that time he and Sami Annabi were incarcerated on the same floor of the MCC and that during his incarceration, he observed Nedam Annabi, together with Maysoun Annabi, in the visiting room of the MCC waiting to visit Sami Annabi. Audinot did not speak with Nedam Annabi on those occasions. 73 Audinot testified further about his pretrial identification of Nedam Annabi. He testified that in March 1985, DEA agent Musso showed him a group of color photographs, approximately ten at a time, and asked him if he recognized any of the people pictured. He testified that Agent Musso did not ask any specific questions regarding the photographs or single out any photographs in any fashion. At that session, Audinot identified the photograph of Nedam Annabi as the person whom he knew as Joe, as well as others such as Sami and Maysoun Annabi. Later, on October 17, 1985, Audinot testified, he was again shown a group of pictures, similar to the ones he had seen earlier, and he recognized a number of appellants, including Nedam Annabi. 74 Agent Musso's account of the identification sessions held with Audinot differed from Audinot's. Musso testified that at the initial interview in March he had first shown Audinot a black and white mug shot of Nedam Annabi and asked him [d]o you recognize this person? Audinot responded affirmatively and identified the person as Joe. After this identification, Musso testified, he showed Audinot a large number of color photographs, whereupon Audinot identified a number of people including Nedam Annabi. 75 The district court made no specific finding that it believed Agent Musso's account of the first identification session rather than Audinot's account. However, it seems implied from the district court's discussion of whether the showing of an individual photograph is a suggestive identification procedure that it credited Musso's account. Thus, assuming the identification occurred as Agent Musso described, with Audinot first being shown a single black and white mug shot rather than a full array of photographs, we nevertheless find no fatal defect in Audinot's courtroom identification of Nedam Annabi, because, in our view, the identification bore sufficient indicia of reliability and was not prejudicially affected by the pretrial procedures employed. 76 Identification testimony will be suppressed only if it is determined, first, that the pretrial identification was unduly suggestive, and, second, that the suggestiveness rendered the subsequent identification at trial so unreliable as to require its exclusion from evidence. United States v. Leonardi, 623 F.2d 746, 754 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 928, 100 S.Ct. 3027, 65 L.Ed.2d 1123 (1980). The determination of reliability is made based upon the totality of the circumstances, including the suggestive procedure used by the police. Styers v. Smith, 659 F.2d 293, 299 (2d Cir.1981). When applying the relevant factors set forth in Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 2253, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977), for assessing the reliability of identification evidence, it becomes apparent that Audinot's identification of Nedam Annabi was reliable independent of the pretrial procedures. First, Audinot had a sufficient opportunity to view Nedam Annabi. He was involved in drug transactions with Nedam Annabi on two separate occasions, each lasting at least fifteen minutes, and both involving conversations between the two men. The second deal was transacted in what Audinot describes as a friendly or loose atmosphere. Second, Audinot can be said to have paid a significant degree of attention to Nedam Annabi. At the first meeting, Annabi's use of a Spanish word caused Audinot to take particular note and prompted him to look specifically at him and remark [y]ou said that very well. Third, Audinot's identification of Nedam Annabi when initially shown not only the mug shot but also the series of photographs was certain. His identification at trial was equally certain. Finally, although approximately six months elapsed between Audinot's August 1984 meetings with Nedam Annabi and the first identification session in March 1985, a factor that tends to lessen the reliability of the identification, nevertheless, in our view, this factor is outweighed by the other factors that support the reliability of the identification. See Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 201, 93 S.Ct. 375, 383, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972). Moreover, other circumstantial evidence in the case points to the reliability of Audinot's identification. For instance, the evidence at trial established that Nedam Annabi's nickname was Joe, the name by which Audinot knew Nedam Annabi. Viewing the totality of the circumstances, we cannot say that there was such a substantial likelihood of misidentification that Audinot's in-court identification should have been suppressed. 77 Annabi claims that a stipulation introduced later in the trial presents compelling proof of the strong likelihood of misidentification in this case. As noted, Audinot testified at the Wade hearing that he observed Nedam Annabi on two or three occasions visiting his brother Sami at the MCC. A stipulation was introduced to the effect that the MCC records did not show any visits made by Nedam Annabi. However, the introduction of this stipulation does not dictate suppression. The stipulation was used on cross-examination to impeach Audinot's testimony. The decision whether to credit Audinot's testimony that he observed Nedam Annabi visiting his brother at the MCC was therefore one properly left in the hands of the jury. The MCC records do not cast sufficient doubt on the reliability of Audinot's identification that it should have been suppressed. 78