Opinion ID: 200345
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Admissibility of the Identification Testimony

Text: 13 Defendant filed a Motion to Suppress Identifications. There was a hearing on the motion prior to trial. The district court denied the motion by a margin notation, Motion Denied. There were no findings of facts or rulings of law. We will uphold a district court's decision to deny a suppression motion if the decision is supported by any reasonable view of the evidence. United States v. Campa, 234 F.3d 733, 737 (1st Cir.2000). Our review of a district court's decision to grant or deny a suppression motion is plenary. 2 United States v. McCarthy, 77 F.3d 522, 529 (1st Cir.1996). 14 There is an additional factor, however, that must be addressed in our consideration of the pretrial review of the suppression motion. There were two identification witnesses who testified at the hearing, Powers and Mozynski. In January 1999, Mozynski was shown a single booking photo of the defendant. Mozynski was asked Who is this? He replied, It looks like Butter. In mid-February 1999, Powers was shown the same photo. Powers was asked if it was Butter. She answered, Yes. 15 The Supreme Court has dealt directly with this problem. In Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 384, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968), the Court held: 16 Despite the hazards of initial identification by photograph, this procedure has been used widely and effectively in criminal law enforcement, from the standpoint both of apprehending offenders and of sparing innocent suspects the ignominy of arrest by allowing eyewitnesses to exonerate them through scrutiny of photographs. The danger that use of the technique may result in convictions based on misidentification may be substantially lessened by a course of cross-examination at trial which exposes to the jury the method's potential for error. We are unwilling to prohibit its employment, either in the exercise of our supervisory power or, still less, as a matter of constitutional requirement. Instead, we hold that each case must be considered on its own facts, and that convictions based on eyewitness identification at trial following a pretrial identification by photograph will be set aside on that ground only if the photographic identification procedure was so impermissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. 17 (emphasis added). We have, of course, followed this teaching: 18 Before excluding identification evidence, the court must be persuaded that there was a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. A court must also be mindful that it is only in extraordinary cases that identification evidence should be withheld from the jury. 19 United States v. de Jesus-Rios, 990 F.2d 672, 677 (1st Cir.1993) (citations and quotation marks omitted); see also United States v. Watson, 76 F.3d 4, 6 (1st Cir. 1996); United States v. Guzman-Rivera, 990 F.2d 681, 682 (1st Cir.1993). 20 We use a two-step test to make this determination. See United States v. Lopez-Lopez, 282 F.3d 1, 10 (1st Cir.2002). The first step is to decide whether there was an impermissibly suggestive procedure. See id. We skip this step because the government has conceded that the photographic procedure was suggestive. Our next step is to decide whether the identification itself was reliable under the totality of the circumstances, notwithstanding the suggestive procedure. Id. at 10-11 (quoting Watson, 76 F.3d at 6). Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199-200, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972), is the keystone case on the determination of identification reliability. It enumerates five factors in the analysis: (1) the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime; (2) the witness' degree of attention; (3) the accuracy of the witness' prior description of the defendant; (4) the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at the confrontation; (5) the length of time between the crime and the confrontation. 21 We make our analysis bearing in mind that reliability is the linchpin in determining the admissibility of identification testimony. Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977). We start with the testimony of Mozynski. As far as the first factor, Mozynski had at least three opportunities to view the defendant closely. This was not a single event crime. There were three face-to-face sales by the defendant to Mozynski. In addition, Mozynski had seen Henderson on one or two occasions before he started working for the government as an informant. 22 The next factor is the witness' degree of attention. The evidence demonstrates that Mozynski had a sufficient degree of attention; he testified at trial to specific details about the crack cocaine transactions with Henderson. Mozynski, for example, described how in one transaction Henderson wore a black, gold and white football jersey and a baseball hat; Mozynski also remembered receiving the crack cocaine in a plastic bag wrapped in newspaper. 23 The third factor is the accuracy of the witness' prior description of the criminal. Mozynski's prior description of Henderson was not perfect. Mozynski described Henderson as weighing between 175 and 180 pounds when he actually weighed 150 pounds. Mozynski reported that Henderson was five feet, ten inches tall, when Henderson claims he is five feet, nine inches tall. Mozynski also said that Henderson had a medium complexion; Henderson says that he has a dark complexion. We are satisfied, however, that the other reliability factors are sufficiently persuasive to defeat any suspicion of unreliability raised by Mozynski's prior description. See United States v. Flores-Rivera, 56 F.3d 319, 331 (1st Cir.1995) (other reliability criteria under Biggers sufficient to overcome unreliability engendered by one factor); Watson, 76 F.3d at 7 n. 1 (upholding district court's finding that identification was reliable under Biggers where there was no prior description of the assailant but the witness had ample opportunity to focus on suspect and identified him within minutes of the assault). 24 The fourth factor, the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at confrontation, does not give us reason to pause. Mozynski remained steadfast in the positiveness of his identification[], despite defense counsel's rigorous cross-examination. Souza v. Howard, 488 F.2d 462, 465-66 (1st Cir.1973). The fifth Biggers factor is the length of time between the crime and the confrontation. The last time Mozynski observed Henderson was in November 1998. Mozynski identified Henderson's photograph in January 1999. The six day jury trial ended on April 30, 2001. We do not find that this lapse of time militates against the reliability of Mozynski's in-court identification given the strength of the other factors. See Flores-Rivera, 56 F.3d at 331 (seven year gap between crime and identification permissible because other reliability criteria were sufficiently persuasive); Drougas, 748 F.2d at 28 (five year gap between crime and photographic identification permissible because witness spent considerable time with defendant). 25 Based on our thorough review of the record and application of the pertinent law to the facts we rule that Mozynski's identification of Henderson was sufficiently reliable to overcome the admittedly suggestive photo showing. 26 Henderson advances a plethora of reasons why Mozynski's identification should not pass muster: he argues that Mozynski did not know the defendant by his actual name; that Mozynski lied to the government when he said that he had met with Butter on at least one occasion; that Mozynski wore glasses because he suffered from blurred vision and double vision; that when shown the photo, Mozynski stated that [i]t looks like `Butter'; that Mozynski was mistaken as to the weight and complexion of the defendant; and that during the entire period of Mozynski's observations of Butter, he suffered a worsening problem of memory loss. 27 Our conclusion regarding the reliability of Mozynski's identification makes a detailed examination of each argument unnecessary. For as the Supreme Court has stated: 28 Surely, we cannot say that under all the circumstances of this case there is a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. Short of that point, such evidence is for the jury to weigh. We are content to rely upon the good sense and judgment of American juries, for evidence with some element of untrustworthiness is customary grist for the jury mill. Juries are not so susceptible that they cannot measure intelligently the weight of identification testimony that has some questionable feature. 29 Manson, 432 U.S. at 116, 97 S.Ct. 2243 (citation and quotation marks omitted). 30 Nor need we dwell too long on Powers' identification of defendant. There was evidence from which it could be found that she had known Henderson going back to 1994. Powers bought crack cocaine from Henderson for her own use and resale. She saw Henderson at her apartment daily during a six month period in 1994, at times spending an hour or more with him. Powers was present at all crack cocaine sales to Mozynski, as an ally of Henderson. During October and November 1998, Powers saw Henderson every day. Powers' identification of Henderson at the pretrial hearing and at the jury trial was positive and firm. In addition, we do not think the gap in time between Powers' last transaction with Henderson and her identification of Henderson's photograph calls into question the reliability of her in-court identification, particularly given her close interaction with Henderson. See Flores-Rivera, 56 F.3d at 331; Drougas, 748 F.2d at 28. 31 Like those made regarding Mozynski, all of the defendant's arguments pertaining to Powers focus on her reliability: that she was under the influence of cocaine during the four sales; that she did not know the amount of money involved in the sales; that she was unable to tell how the cocaine was packaged. Suffice it to say that all of these factors were brought to the jury's attention. 32 We rule that Powers' testimony was properly submitted to the jury. 33