Opinion ID: 2373688
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Thomas Dolan

Text: Appellant advances two interwoven reasons in support of his contention that witness Dolan's in-trial court identification should not have been permitted. First, he argues that Dolan's photo identification was uncertain at best; and, second, he maintains that Dolan's ability to identify him at trial was aided immeasurably and improperly by contrived police action which lured him into the preliminary hearing room with Baker present, but without informing Baker's attorney that a line-up was underway. Dolan was an employee of the Metro Fuel Company and was robbed by co-defendant, Mark Mitchell, during the crime taking place in the company's offices. Dolan also was taken upstairs by the assailants to the second floor office where the killing took place. Shortly afterwards, he was shown two photo arrays by the police. In the first array, Dolan selected a photo which was not Baker's. On the second display, however, he selected Baker and stated that the photograph looked like the shortest one of the three actors more so than the other pictures. Picking out Baker as the killer, Dolan then told the police, according to his testimony at the suppression hearing, that, I said that's one that looks like him to me. (S.T., September 12, 1984, pp. 192-193). Dolan also went to the subsequent preliminary hearing to give testimony. As the hearing was about to commence, two police officers told Dolan he could sit inside the courtroom, and there he saw Baker. As Dolan left the courtroom because he was not going to be called as a witness, a detective asked me, the specific conversation, he asked me if I recognized anyone up there, pointing at no one. (S.T., September 12, 1984, p. 20). Dolan replied to the officer at that moment that the sight of Baker cleared his mind of any doubts regarding the prior identification of Baker. Dolan subsequently affirmed this at the suppression hearing where he was cross-examined as a prosecution witness by defense counsel for co-defendant, Mark Mitchell, and he testified as follows: Q. You said that when you came to the preliminary hearing, you told Detective Nespoli that now it was clear? A. Yes. Q. What did you mean by that? You weren't sure who the person was, you were not sure of the photographs that you viewed? A. Well, I said I had seen two separate photographs that resembled what I thought was Mr. Baker and because there was a doubt in my mind, which was at the point cleared up at the hearing. Q. And it wasn't until the preliminary hearing that your mind was cleared? A. It made me at ease, yes. At suppression, Appellant unsuccessfully sought to crush all of Dolan's identification testimony. Dolan persisted, however, in his recollection that he had selected Baker's photograph because, I was able to see the person holding the gun. Q. He is the one who fired the shot? A. Yes he was. (S.T., September 12, 1984, pp. 192, 194). [4] As to the effects of encountering Baker at the preliminary hearing, Dolan told the police that seeing Baker had an effect on him: it cleared up my mind. (S.T., September 12, 1984, p. 195). [5] At trial, Dolan once again pointed to Appellant as the killer: Q. What did you see Mr. Baker do, if anything, as he took the half step forward? A. I saw his hand come out with the gun that he had at my side and fire what I believe was two shots. Q. What direction was the gun pointed when the two shots were fired? A. It was pointed directly through the doorway where Mr. Gambrell was sitting. Q. He was sitting at the desk; is that right? A. Yes. (T.T., September 25, 1984, p. 281). Appellant now insists that the in-trial court identification was tainted by the preliminary hearing where, he concludes, an ex parte informal line-up took place in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel at a critical stage of the proceedings against him. Moreover, Appellant further argues that the certainty of the suppression identification and in-trial court identification was possible only because the witness clarified his earlier photo perception of the killer through the bolstering mechanism of an illegal line-up. We conclude at the outset of our analysis that Appellant's right of confrontation at the preliminary hearing was violated. In Commonwealth v. Richman, 458 Pa. 167, 320 A.2d 351 (1974), we held that due process requires an attorney's presence at a line-up, and where an identification took place at the preliminary hearing without the knowledge of the defendant's counsel, his rights were impaired. The Richman Rule also has been followed in Commonwealth v. Ransome, 485 Pa. 490, 402 A.2d 1379 (1979), and Commonwealth v. Bogan, 482 Pa. 151, 393 A.2d 424 (1978). In both cases, we determined that the remedy for the impropriety was suppression of the evidence. Since it was the defense rather than the prosecution, however, which then injected the identification into the trial evidence, we also decided that the defendants in those two cases could not complain of a constitutional transgression. In the instant case, we take particular note of the fact that at trial the Commonwealth electively suppressed evidence of its witness' statement to the police after the preliminary hearing, the suppression identification, as well as the evidence of the photo array. That evidence was not used at trial; omission equals suppression. On this record, Appellant urges us to disqualify the in-trial court identification on the grounds that it was suggestively tainted by the impermissible line-up. The law of this Commonwealth, on the other hand, expresses our greatest concern that such identification evidence be based on its reliability. Commonwealth v. Sexton, 485 Pa. 17, 400 A.2d 1289 (1979), teaches that suggestiveness of confrontation is merely one factor in deciding the issue of reliability. Of course, suggestiveness arising from an illicit preliminary hearing line-up can be negated by a showing that the identification at trial had an independent basis. Commonwealth v. Yarris, 519 Pa. 571, 549 A.2d 513 (1988). The paramount aim of our law, nevertheless, is to judge the reliability of the identification. The relationship between suggestiveness and reliability was stated in Ransome, 485 Pa. at 496, 402 A.2d at 1382-83, following Sexton: Even if we were to accept appellant's contention that this identification occurred in suggestive circumstances, we cannot accept his claim that the identification was unreliable. In gauging reliability, we employ a totality of circumstances test. Commonwealth v. Fowler, 466 Pa. 198, 204, 352 A.2d 17, 20 (1976). Specific factors to be taken into account include the prior opportunity of the witness to observe the criminal act; the accuracy of photo array selection and other descriptions; the lapse of time between the act and any lineup; and any failure to identify the defendant on prior occasions. Ransome, 485 Pa. at 496, 402 A.2d at 1382; Commonwealth v. Taylor, 472 Pa. 1, 370 A.2d 1197 (1977). Here we are faced with the task of balancing two circumstances. On one side exists the allegation of inseparable suggestiveness of confrontation and in-court identification. On the other stands the unequivocal trial testimony of Dolan and his photo identifications. So viewed, the trial record establishes the fact that Dolan was the only witness before the jury who targeted Baker as the killer. To reiterate a crucial point, his testimony was not buttressed by any references to any prior identifications. The prosecution has a right to build its case at trial, and there Dolan's identification evidence stood alone but fully subject to the great truth-finding process of cross-examination. His unshakeable and uncontradicted testimony revealed that he had been threatened by Baker with a gun and had stood near Baker, whose face was uncovered, when the weapon was fired at the victim. An opportunity to observe, even for a limited moment, can form an independent basis for an in-court identification, Commonwealth v. Holland, 480 Pa. 202, 389 A.2d 1026 (1978), while a prior photographic identification must be taken into account for the same purpose. Taylor, 472 Pa. at 21, 370 A.2d at 1207. Although Dolan's photographic selections resulted in one failure and one success, some weight must be accorded to his second identification. In working through the legal calculus of the totality of circumstances test, therefore, we are compelled to conclude that the identification was reliable. The ability of the witness to observe in these circumstances then becomes a matter of credibility for the jury's determination. Commonwealth v. Shoatz, 469 Pa. 545, 366 A.2d 1216 (1976); Commonwealth v. Kloiber, 378 Pa. 412, 106 A.2d 820 (1954). That is to say that, following Ransome, even assuming arguendo that suggestiveness lingered on in Dolan's memory, there are sufficient factual circumstances to find that his identification was reliable.