Opinion ID: 780449
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Haines Identification

Text: 7 On the night of July 3, 1998, Jennifer Haines woke to the sound of someone trying to break into her home. She called 9-1-1 and described the individual as a 5'7 Hispanic man with dark skin tone and short hair. On July 22, approximately two weeks after the incident and before Grant was ever a suspect, Officer Bahash showed Haines a six-pack containing the photograph of a man (Hernandez) that police considered the possible assailant at the time. Haines tentatively identified Hernandez, stating it looks like number 2, but I'm not real sure. But real close. A police forensic expert subsequently matched a latent fingerprint found at the Haines residence to one of Hernandez's rolled fingerprints. The police dropped Hernandez as a suspect shortly thereafter, although neither trial testimony nor the parties' briefs indicate a reason. 8 On September 26, almost three months after the attempted break-in, Officer Bahash asked Haines to view another six-pack, this time with a photograph of Grant. She selected Grant stating It's number 3, if the hair were shorter. It's him. Officer Bahash never followed up by having Haines choose between the two photographs of Grant and Hernandez after she had identified both as her assailant.