Opinion ID: 683141
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Hampton Street Robbery and Linda Pang's Identification of Tung Tran.

Text: 47
48 On January 23, 1990, members of the Green Dragons robbed an apartment at 4015 Hampton Street in Queens, acting on a tip that the apartment was the location of an underground gambling spot. The night of the robbery, Sonny Wong met Chen I. Chung at one of the gang's apartments. Chen I. Chung said that he had sent Brian Chan, Alex Wong, Steven Ng, Joseph Wang, Chiang T. Cheng, and several others to rob the apartment; Sonny Wong believed that Chung also might have mentioned Danny Ngo or Tung Tran. The Green Dragons went to the apartment that night, and forced their entrance shortly after 11 p.m. 49 Once inside, the gang forced Cheng Chen (one of the apartment's occupants), his mother, and his cousin to undress, and proceeded to ransack the apartment. For the next two hours, Cheng Chen was held in one room at gunpoint, during which time he heard various sounds coming from other rooms in the apartment, including the screams of his wife, Linda Pang. After the gang members left, Chen found his wife naked and crying in another room. Pang, who was in the bathroom when the gang members entered the apartment, had been forced out of the bathroom by a gang member. For the next two hours, Pang saw approximately five or six robbers, several with guns and at least one with a knife, as she was taken at gunpoint from room to room in the apartment. While in her bedroom, Tung Tran raped Pang at knifepoint. The robbers stole cash and jewelry from the apartment, as well as Chen's ATM card and access number. 50 Later that night, Sonny Wong saw Danny Ngo, Joseph Wang, Alex Wong, Tung Tran, Brian Chan, and Roger Kwok at one of the gang's apartments, sorting out proceeds from the robbery of the Hampton Street apartment. Aleck Yim, who was also present at the apartment, recalled that Tung Tran, Steven Ng, Brian Chan, and other Green Dragon [m]embers were present and discussed the robbery. 51
52 Pang provided an identification of Tung Tran as a participant in the Hampton Street robbery, and Tran moved unsuccessfully to suppress the identification prior to trial. Because Tran contends that the district court erroneously ruled, following that hearing, that Pang would be allowed to testify at trial, the next three paragraphs of this opinion address the testimony at the pretrial suppression hearing. 53 At the end of January 1990, Pang reviewed approximately 100 loose photographs at the police station, but did not recognize anyone in the photos from the robbery. One week later, the police brought Pang additional photos to review in her home. Pang, Chen, his mother, and a roommate took turns reviewing approximately thirty photos. Although Chen and the roommate each made an identification, Pang failed to recognize anyone from the robbery. Approximately one month later, Pang attended a police lineup of five individuals, but failed to make an identification. 54 On June 12, 1990, Detectives Charles Judson and Peter Blum of the Nassau County Police Department met with Chen and Pang at a coffee shop to show them photo arrays. Judson met with Chen at one table and showed him one set of photos, while Blum sat with Pang at a separate table and showed her a second set. Chen identified Tung Tran and two other participants from this set. Pang identified Brian Chan from the second set. Pursuant to instructions, Chen and Pang then signed their names to the backs of the photographs that they had identified, and initialled the backs of photographs that they had not selected. The two tables then exchanged photographs. 55 When Blum laid this second set of photos before Pang, she stared at them, obviously fixating on one photograph and her eyes were full of tears. She began to cry. Blum put the photos away and tried to console her for two or three minutes, because it was obvious she was reliving the incident. When Pang had composed herself, Blum again laid out the photos. Pang then pointed to a picture of Tung Tran. Blum turned the picture over and had her sign it, and then initial the remaining photographs. Pang signed above her husband's signature, which he had placed on the reverse side of the photograph after his prior identification of Tran. 56 One week after viewing photos in the coffee shop, Pang viewed additional photographs but did not recognize anyone. On October 18, 1990, in a meeting held at the office of one of the Assistant United States Attorneys handling this case, Detective Blum again showed Pang the photos she had viewed in the coffee shop. Pang again identified the photograph of Tung Tran. 57 Tran's motion to suppress Pang's identification testimony was based upon the contention that the identification procedures employed by the police were impermissibly suggestive. Because of the court's concern that Chen's signature on the back of Tung Tran's photograph might have bolstered Pang's identification, the court heard testimony from Chen and Pang, as well as Judson and Blum, about the suggestiveness of the procedures employed. Pang testified that she initially looked at the second set of pictures for one or two minutes, and then ... felt very uncomfortable. After she composed herself, she looked at the pictures for a few minutes, and then identified Tran. The writing on the back of the pictures meant [n]othing much to her. She did not notice her husband's signature beneath her signature when she signed the back of Tran's photograph. The court also questioned Pang about the circumstances under which she had seen her assailant on the night of the robbery. Pang testified that she had seen him face-to-face and looked him in the eye for about a minute in [v]ery clear lighting. 58 The district court denied Tung Tran's motion to suppress Pang's identification, concluding that Pang had not been influenced by the presence of her husband's signature on the back of Tran's photo. The court said: 59 In listening carefully to all of this witness' testimony on direct and cross, and also to her answers to my questions[,] I am prepared to believe her, that she didn't notice her husband's signature. This very unassuming, somewhat shy young woman finds it very difficult even now to say what happened to her the night that is at issue here that she was raped. She's prepared to discuss [that night] in almost any other terms, except when she's finally asked repeatedly to say exactly what happened to her. 60 I have little difficulty believing that seeing that photograph some months after the rape renewed in her all of the horror of the experience, and that when she did turn it over to sign her name, that that would have been the kind of quick action where she wasn't particularly paying attention to any of the other names on it. I'm prepared to believe her in this regard. 61 At trial, Chen identified Chiang T. Cheng, Steven Ng, and Brian Chan as among the robbers that night. Pang also identified Cheng, Ng, and Chan at trial, as well as Tung Tran and Danny Ngo. Prior to trial, the defendants requested, and obtained, an in limine ruling to preclude the government from introducing evidence that Pang was raped during the Hampton Street robbery. 62
63 On appeal, Tran renews his contention that the pretrial procedure was suggestive. Tran also argues that because Pang was ordered to keep her head down by the robbers, she did not have an independently reliable basis for the identification. We disagree. 64 The district court's conclusion that Pang's agitation kept her from noticing her husband's signature on Tran's photo is a finding of fact based on the court's observation of the witness' demeanor, and is not clearly erroneous. Moreover, police suggestiveness does not require the suppression of an identification if the witness was not thereby influenced, as, for example, when the witness's identification was already positive. Jarrett, 802 F.2d at 41-42. The evidence is undisputed that Pang identified Tran's photograph before it was turned over for her to affix her signature on the reverse side, and thus before she had any opportunity to view her husband's signature. Thus, her identification was firm before the asserted suggestiveness came into play. 65 In addition, although our conclusion that Pang's identification of Tran was not affected by any suggestive police procedure eliminates the need to inquire into the independent reliability of Pang's identification, see Jacobowitz, 877 F.2d at 168, we note that it exhibits very strong indicia of reliability. Pang had an ample opportunity to view Tran, and the incident understandably held her full attention. See Neil, 409 U.S. at 200 & n. 7, 93 S.Ct. at 383 & n. 7. Pang displayed complete certainty about her identification. Under these circumstances, neither the fact that Pang had not previously provided a description of Tung Tran, nor the fact that her photo identification occurred six months after the incident (and her in-court identification twenty-five months after the incident) renders her identification unreliable. See Jacobowitz, 877 F.2d at 168. Finally, while Tran argues that Pang's pretrial failure to identify anyone before or after viewing the photo arrays in the coffee shop is an indication that she has no independent recollection of the robbery, it is just as likely (or more likely, given Pang's opportunity to view the intruders) to be a manifestation of extreme conscientiousness as a witness. See Neil, 409 U.S. at 201, 93 S.Ct. at 383. 66