Opinion ID: 2611155
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: marudas' appeal

Text: Marudas contends that the evidence tending to identify him as the man Mrs. Fenwick saw on the steps outside her apartment was insufficient to sustain his conviction. Mrs. Fenwick testified that she was unable to point out anyone in the courtroom as the man she saw on the steps. Gould did not identify Marudas as his accomplice, but suggested that the police check one Pete Lombardi. Unlike Gould, Marudas at all times denied having any knowledge of the burglary. The People contend, however, that Marudas' conviction should be sustained on the basis of an allegedly evasive statement made by him at the time of his arrest and Mrs. Fenwick's extrajudicial identification of his photograph. [16] When asked upon arrest where he had been on the day of the crime, Marudas allegedly replied: I don't know, but by the time I get to court I will have four or five people to place me where I want to be. The People contend that this answer was so evasive and equivocal that the jury could properly infer consciousness of guilt. The cases cited by the People, however, involved statements of fact that were incredible, later proved false, or contradicted by the defendant's subsequent testimony. ( People v. Wissenfeld, 36 Cal.2d 758, 761-763 [227 P.2d 833]; People v. Cole, 141 Cal. 88, 89-90 [74 P. 547]; People v. Turner, 86 Cal. App.2d 791, 800-801 [195 P.2d 809].) Such statements give rise to inferences of attempted concealment and consciousness of guilt. No comparable falsification or evasion was shown in the present case and consciousness of guilt could not reasonably be inferred. The only evidence tending to connect Marudas with the burglary, therefore, was the evidence of Mrs. Fenwick's extrajudicial identification of his photograph. [17] An extrajudicial identification that cannot be confirmed by an identification at the trial is insufficient to sustain a conviction in the absence of other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the crime. (See Reamer v. United States, 229 F.2d 884, 886.) [18] Moreover, the probative value of an identification depends on the circumstances under which it was made. Mrs. Fenwick merely selected one of a small group of photographs. The small size of the group increased the danger of suggestion. (See 3 Wigmore, Evidence (3d ed. 1940), § 786 a, p. 164.) [19] Identification from a still photograph is substantially less reliable than identification of an individual seen in person. (See id., pp. 165-166.) It becomes particularly suspect when, as in the present case, the witness subsequently fails to identify the subject of the photograph when seen in person and there is no other evidence tending to identify him. The judgment and order denying a new trial are affirmed as to defendant Jewell Ashby Gould and reversed as to defendant Andrew Peter Marudas.