Opinion ID: 2316663
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: elsie identification

Text: The defendant challenges Elsie's out-of-court photo-array identification on the basis that he was denied due process because his counsel was not allowed to be present. [3] He further challenges the admission of Elsie's in and out-of-court identifications on the basis that Elsie was not a competent witness under Rule 602 of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence (Rule 602) in that she had no personal knowledge of her assailant's identity because she had an insufficient opportunity to view the assailant. We are persuaded by his second argument. The defendant fails to cite any federal or state authority for his due process argument because, quite frankly, it is a novel approach. The defendant contends that the state unconstitutionally deprived him (a postindictment defendant on the eve of trial) of his due process rights by failing to allow his attorney the opportunity to be present while last-minute evidence injurious to his liberty interest was being collected. We do not decide this interesting extension of due process rights. For purposes of this appeal, we are convinced that Elsie was not competent to identify her assailant because she had no personal knowledge of her assailant's identity as required by Rule 602. We think it evident that Elsie had a preformed opinion about defendant and is now unjustifiably accusing him. In consideration of Ranieri's challenge, we note that he has not styled his legal argument as a Rule 602 competency question. He argues that Elsie's testimony is unreliable and that it should be suppressed because it should be likened to an expression of an opinion by a lay witness under Rule 701 of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence. Reading defendant's argument in its totality, we think his argument really is an objection under Rule 602. [4] When a witness testifies to an identification of someone, that identification is not the expression of an opinion by a lay witness. Rather it is a statement of fact that the witness recognizes someone else. Under Rule 602, A witness may not testify to a matter unless evidence is introduced sufficient to support a finding that the witness has personal knowledge of the matter. Evidence to prove personal knowledge may, but need not, consist of the testimony of the witness himself or herself. If a witness lacks such personal knowledge, then the witness is deemed to be incompetent to testify with respect to that matter. See Rule 601. In deciding whether a witness is competent for purposes of Rule 602, the trial justice must determine whether a witness had a sufficient opportunity to perceive the subject matter about which he is testifying. See Hallquist v. Local 2765, Plumbers & Pipefitters Union, 843 F.2d 18, 24 (1st Cir.1988); 3 J. Weinstein & M. Bergen, Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 602[02] at 602-12 (M.B. 1988). The justice is not making a credibility determination and is not judging whether the witness is accurately and truthfully relating that which he perceived. See 3 J. Weinstein & M. Bergen, ¶ 602[02] at 602-10, 602-11 (citing United States v. Smith, 592 F. Supp. 424, 441 n. 22 (E.D.Va. 1984), rev'd on other grounds, 780 F.2d 1102 (4th Cir. en banc 1985) (discussing distinction between F.R.E. Rule 602 and Doctrine of Inherent Incredibility)). Further, Rule 602    does not require that the witness' knowledge be positive or rise to the level of absolute certainty. Evidence is inadmissible under this rule only if in the proper exercise of the trial court's discretion it finds that the witness could not have actually perceived or observed that which he testifies to. M.B.A.F.B. Federal Credit Union v. Cumis Insurance Society, Inc., 681 F.2d 930, 932 (4th Cir.1982). [5] In a situation in which the question of a witness's Rule 602 competency is close (that is, the jury could find that the witness perceived the matter testified to), the judge should admit the testimony since the matter then becomes one of credibility and is properly for the jury. See 3 J. Weinstein & M. Bergen, ¶ 602[02] at 602-11. Further, [i]n a criminal case where the proponent is the defense, the court should hesitate even more than in other instances in excluding testimony on Rule 602 grounds. Id. at 602-10. The standard of review that this appellate court will undertake to decide whether a witness is competent for Rule 602 purposes is an abuse of discretion standard. Cumis Insurance Society, Inc., 681 F.2d at 932. We will not disturb the trial court's Rule 602 ruling unless the court has clearly abused its broad discretion. Hallquist, 843 F.2d at 24; United States v. Champion, 813 F.2d 1154, 1172 (11th Cir.1987). On the facts of the instant case, the trial justice never made an explicit Rule 602 ruling since the parties did not frame the issue as a Rule 602 competency question. Nevertheless, we will undertake our review as if the trial justice had ruled that Elsie had personal knowledge of her assailant's identity and was thus competent under Rule 602 to so testify. Two incidents in particular lead us to believe that Elsie is not competent under Rule 602. Elsie's uncontroverted testimony is that she believed for some time that defendant was always spying on her through the shade of her neighbor's house. She claimed that defendant had cut a hole in her neighbor's window shade in order to view her and that defendant would seal the hole back up when he was done. Assuming that there was such a hole and that there was such a person viewing her, Elsie readily admits she never saw that it was defendant who was looking at her. Yet, without any basis, Elsie still adamantly maintains that she knew it was Ranieri who was spying on her. She claims Ranieri watched her and always knew when she was in or out of the house. Second, Elsie claims that prior to the present crime, defendant broke into her apartment on five different occasions. Again, Elsie has absolutely no evidence to substantiate her allegations. She readily admits she never saw Ranieri or anyone else actually enter her home. Elsie confronted defendant with her breaking and entering allegations sometime before the instant attack. It is at this prior confrontation in her back yard that he purportedly told her, I'll get even with you. The night of the attack, Elsie was grabbed from behind moments after she awoke at 4 a.m. Her uncontradicted testimony is that she never saw her assailant come up behind her, yet she knew it was Ranieri because he was always watching her. Quickly the assailant threw Elsie to the floor and proceeded to strike her senselessly with a metal rod. Picard testified that after the assailant escaped, Elsie was crying, Who was doing this to me? Elsie never made any identification to anyone, despite repeated police urgings to give details of her attacker. She maintained for over eighteen months that she saw nothing. Even at trial she testified that she did not remember seeing Picard in her apartment the night of the attack. Then on the eve of the trial, Elsie claimed she could make an identification. Elsie explained that she did not give a description of her assailant earlier because she was afraid of retribution from defendant or from defendant's friends in the neighborhood. She also claims that she had the opportunity to see her attacker despite the fact that she was grabbed from behind in her dark apartment. We think it unmistakably clear that Elsie has a history of making unwarranted and unfair accusations against defendant. Elsie had absolutely no factual basis to make two prior serious allegations against defendant and we see nothing to indicate a factual basis for this third, most serious, allegation. We think Elsie's eighteen-month delay is not sufficiently explained merely by saying she was afraid. During all this time, defendant was incarcerated because of another charge or because he was unable to meet the bail set on this case. Despite this eighteen months of confinement, Elsie was never threatened by anyone. Elsie knew that defendant was in custody all during this period and that presumably he would be there for a significant period if he was convicted at a trial that was going to go forward without her assistance. During this eighteen-month period the Journal had published defendant's picture several times. We are incredulous that all these facts can be outweighed by Elsie's suddenly coming forward to make an identification, saying she knew all along that defendant was her assailant and that she was afraid to come forward. Therefore, we rule that it was clearly erroneous for the trial justice to find that sufficient evidence was introduced that Elsie had personal knowledge of her assailant's identity. Accordingly Elsie was not competent under Rule 602 of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence to testify as to her assailant's identity, and her out-of-court and in-court identifications should have been suppressed.