Opinion ID: 1967495
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A. Evidence At Trial

Text: Kenneth Barrick, a loss prevention officer employed by the Lord & Taylor department store, testified that on January 13, 1998, he was operating the closed circuit television system used to monitor potential shoplifting activity at the store located at 5255 Western Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. Barrick and Officer Lee, another security officer, observed a woman enter the store and remove several Coach handbags from a display rack. Lee then instructed Barrick to go out to the sales floor and apprehend the woman. By the time Barrick reached the store's Western Avenue exit ten to fifteen seconds later, he saw the woman outside on the sidewalk carrying a large bag and entering a waiting van. The woman glanced over her shoulder in Barrick's direction and then got into the van, which sped away. Barrick made an in-court identification of appellant as the person he saw the day of the theft, and whose image was captured stealing handbags in an enlarged photograph made from the closed circuit videotape. The government's other witness, Danielle Gibson, was also a member of Lord & Taylor's security force at the time of the theft. She testified that upon reviewing the videotape after the incident, she recognized the woman taking the handbags as someone she had observed on a previous occasion, and made an in-court identification of appellant as the shoplifter portrayed on the tape. Gibson related that approximately three months before the incident, she had seen appellant at close range for about forty-five minutes at a Hecht's store across the street, [1] and later that same day had observed her again via surveillance cameras in the handbag department of the Lord & Taylor store. The government also introduced the videotape of the shoplifting incident, which was played for the trial court's review. Appellant did not testify.