Opinion ID: 449257
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Identification of Olbrot

Text: 7 Thun never attempted to identify either suspect. Both Heelan and Hannum, however, were involved in identifying the suspects. Since the process of identification, while not our focus of attention, contributes to the result in this case, we will detail the testimony regarding the identification procedures. 8 Several inconsistencies regarding Hannum's identification of Olbrot were raised at trial. The first Skokie police officer to arrive on the scene of the drug store was Officer Maher. For the purposes of sending a radio broadcast, Hannum described the two men to Maher as two white males approximately five foot nine inches and shorter. Maher's written report based on Hannum's description was that the men were five feet nine inches tall. Olbrot is in fact five feet one inch tall. 9 Hannum also testified that immediately after the robbery he gave Officer Maher a signed statement in which he described the assailants as in their 20's, mid. In 1976 the year of the attempted robbery, Olbrot was 37 years old. Hannum again recorded his observations in a report directed to his supervisor in Springfield, but in that report he did not mention that he had seen Olbrot's face. 10 Hannum testified that he was asked by the officers involved in the investigation to go to the Chicago Police Department, Area 6 Robbery Division, to look through mug books. Hannum did not make any pretrial physical identification of Olbrot. When Hannum viewed the mug books on October 31, Olbrot was already a suspect because his car had been identified by Heelan. In the first mug book Hannum viewed, he identified the photo of Olbrot as one of the two men involved in the robbery. In the next book Hannum identified a photo of Burke. No police officers were present in the room with Hannum when he looked through the mug books. The Chicago Police Department failed to record the page number on which Olbrot's photo was found in the mug book and the numbers that would identify the other photos surrounding petitioner. The transcript indicates that such a record is required by Chicago Police Department Identification procedures.