Opinion ID: 368344
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Photospread Identification.

Text: 23 Smith contends that the photo array was unduly suggestive because in the ten photos employed in the test he was the only person pictured in blue bib overalls the garment he wore when arrested. 24 In Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968), the Supreme Court provided the following standard: 25 (C)onvictions 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. (Simmons v. United States, supra, 390 U.S. at 384, 88 S.Ct. at 971.) 26 The Court additionally has indicated that even if a photographic identification procedure were slightly suggestive, that alone would not constitute grounds for reversal of the conviction because reliability is the linchpin in determining the admissibility of identification (evidence). Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 2253, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977). 27 Although Smith was the only person wearing bib overalls in the photospread, the fact that all but two of the eyewitnesses viewing the photographs were unable to identify Smith as one of the robbers indicates that the identification procedure was not so impermissibly suggestive as to create a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. Simmons v. United States, supra, 390 U.S. at 384, 88 S.Ct. at 971. Moreover, the record discloses that both Clark and Schrader, the employees who identified Smith from the photospread, (1) closely observed Smith's face either during the course of the robbery (through the partially transparent nylon mask) or during the getaway, (2) provided the police with what turned out to be a reasonably accurate description of Smith immediately after the robbery, (3) furnished uncontradicted testimony of the robber's features, without wavering under lengthy cross-examination by defense counsel, and (4) made the photo identifications within hours of the crime. 28 Under the totality of circumstances in this case, therefore, the photographic identification procedure did not give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification, and the Clark and Schrader identifications were reliable. See Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199-200, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972). 29