Opinion ID: 1816335
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Was the single photographic identification procedure impermissibly suggestive

Text: The public defender on appeal argues that the photographic identification was impermissibly suggestive, and therefore the lineup and in-court identifications are tainted. The United States Supreme Court dealt with photographic identifications in Simmons v. United States (1968), 390 U. S. 377, 88 Sup. Ct. 967, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1247. In that case, police officers exhibited to eyewitnesses a number of group snapshots which contained photographs of two robbery suspects. Each of the witnesses identified Simmons as one of the robbers. At the trial the United States did not offer testimony regarding the picture identification but relied entirely upon in-court identification by the eyewitnesses. Simmons contended that these identifications were not independent of the impermissibly suggestive photographic identification. The supreme court, at pages 383, 384, discussed this problem, saying: It must be recognized that improper employment of photographs by police may sometimes cause witnesses to err in identifying criminals. A witness may have obtained only a brief glimpse of a criminal, or may have seen him under poor conditions. Even if the police subsequently follow the most correct photographic identification procedures and show him the pictures of a number of individuals without indicating whom they suspect,  there is some danger that the witness may make an incorrect identification. This danger will be increased if the police display to the witness only the picture of a single individual who generally resembles the person he saw, or if they show him the pictures of several persons among which the photograph of a single such individual recurs or is in some way emphasized. The chance of misidentification is also heightened if the police indicate to the witness that they have other evidence that one of the persons pictured committed the crime. Regardless of how the initial misidentification comes about, the witness thereafter is apt to retain in his memory the image of the photograph rather than of the person actually seen, reducing the trustworthiness of subsequent lineup or courtroom identification. Nevertheless, the court held that photographic identification is a widely used and effective identification procedure, and it refused to make a rule prohibiting the practice. It stated, at page 384: ... 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. In Simmons, the court held that the photographic identification procedure was permissible in view of the fact that they were shown to the witnesses just one day after the robbery, when their memories were fresh, that several pictures were presented, and that the witnesses were separated at the time of the identification. Furthermore, there was no evidence to indicate that the police advised the witnesses that any of the subjects photographed were under suspicion. The court also considered the necessities of the situation, pointing out that, at the time of the identification, the criminals were still at large and that it was necessary for the police to act swiftly. In the instant case, but one photograph was  displayed to the victim, although it is undisputed that the identification was made from a pack of several which the police officer was prepared to show the rape victim. In Stovall v. Denno (1967), 388 U. S. 293, 87 Sup. Ct. 1967, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1199, not a picture-identification case, the United States Supreme Court held that a one-on-one confrontation procedure was not necessarily violative of due process. The suspect was brought to the victim's hospital room at a time when it was believed that she was in danger of death. The court pointed out that, although the showing of a single suspect to a witness is widely condemned, the totality of the circumstances should be considered and that, under the circumstances, the police did the only reasonable thing and there was no denial of due process. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Gilmore (1968), 398 Fed. 2d 679, held that, under the circumstances there, a one-man lineup was unnecessarily suggestive. There, the only eyewitness to a robbery identified Gilmore and he was equivocal about the identification. At trial, however, the witness stood by his lineup identification, saying, ... when I seen him something told me what he looked like. The court of appeals applied the totality of the circumstances test of Stovall but distinguished it, pointing out that there were no facts in the case under consideration which justified or excused the exhibition of a single person. Under the circumstances of Gilmore, they found there was a denial of due process. Nevertheless, the court of appeals has upheld a single photographic identification procedure in United States v. Cox (7th Cir. 1970), 428 Fed. 2d 683. In that case an officer was able to view a portion of the defendant's face during a chase following a robbery. The officer was shown four photographs of Cox, and he immediately identified him as the man who had fled the scene. Using the totality of the circumstances test, the court of appeals  said that the procedure was not impermissibly suggestive, because the defendant was still at large. These cases are, of course, not controlling in the instant case, but they are evidence of a consistent line of reasoning by the United States Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court that a single-photograph identification does not ipso facto result in a denial of due process. In the instant case, the record is silent as to whether or not the defendant was actually in custody at the time the photographs were shown. Moreover, there is nothing to indicate that the photograph itself was in any way suggestive. It is undisputed that the officer brought more than one picture for the victim to view. The presence of the other photographs, even though they were not shown to the victim, removes much of the suggestiveness that might be inherent in the showing of a single picture, especially since the victim testified that she thought the officer intended to show her more pictures. There was no indication that the officer suggested that the man whose photograph was shown was a suspect or that he was in custody. In the instant case defense counsel's interrogation revealed the pretrial photographic identification. As is pointed out in Cox, supra, page 686, the hazards of a photographic identification procedure can be thoroughly examined by proper cross-examination. In the instant case, the defense counsel had ample opportunity for the exploration of the photographic procedure. We are satisfied that in the totality of the circumstances the procedure used here, though less than ideal, was not impermissibly suggestive. Certainly, in applying the test of Simmons, supra, we see no evidence of a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. Having so concluded, the argument that the photographic identification tainted the subsequent in-court and lineup identifications must also fail. There is no  argument made that either the lineup procedures or the in-court identification were other than constitutionally antiseptic. We should also point out that the evidence adduced at trial indicates that the identification of the defendant in the lineup and in court were based on the victim's observations at the time of the crime. She stated that she had seen her assailant very good and that the light was very good in the alley. The identification at the lineup was the following day while her memory was fresh. The in-court identification was unequivocal, although there was evidence that she was not sure whether he had a mustache, a goatee, or long or short sideburns. This does not vitiate her positive identification that Clarke was her assailant. It should be pointed out in passing that no objection was made to the testimony regarding the lineup or the in-court identification. We are satisfied that the defendant, having failed to enter a timely objection, has waived his right to raise the question of the lineup on appeal. Again, it would appear, however, that the only argument to be raised in respect to the lineup, even were proper motions made, was whether the identification there was suggested by the prior photographic identification. We conclude that it was not.