Opinion ID: 2335407
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Overton's pretrial identification of Harris

Text: Overton identified Harris from a photo lineup shown to him at the hospital while he recovered from his gunshot wounds. At trial, both the lineup display and Overton's identification of Harris from it were admitted into evidence. On appeal, Harris argues the district court erred in admitting Overton's pretrial identification of him as the shooter, claiming the identification was unreliable due to the dark conditions when the crime occurred and the construction of the photo display. But we must first determine whether Harris' challenge was preserved. In his appellate brief, Harris treats the issue as if an objection was made to both the photo lineup exhibit and Overton's pretrial identification of Harris as the shooter. Harris then argues that the trial court erred in admitting Overton's identification of him as the shooter. The State argues this issue was not preserved because at trial Harris only objected to admission of the photo lineup as an exhibit, which was well after Overton's testimony identifying Harris. The record supports the State's version as to how the district court proceedings unfolded. Harris' trial counsel made a single objection just as the photo display was offered into evidence, which was during the testimony of a detective. The stated basis for the objection was that the photo lineup was overly suggestive because Overton had no prior knowledge of Harris and because it was dark outside at the time of the shootings, so Overton could not have gotten a good look at the shooter. But this all happened after Overton had testified about his pretrial identification at the hospital of Harris as the person who shot him and Sloan. The State correctly argues that the issue Harris seeks to advance in this appealthe reliability of Overton's identificationwas not preserved. By the time the objection was made, Overton had already testified about how he identified Harris from a photo lineup at the hospital. Any challenge to the reliability of Overton's identification needed to be made contemporaneously with his testimony. See K.S.A. 60-404. And Harris appears to acknowledge the preservation problem, because he argues this court may still reach the issue under one of the recognized exceptions from our prior caselaw. But this court has recently emphasized the importance of lodging specific objections to evidence at trial and disapproved any past loosening of the K.S.A. 60-404 requirement of specific and timely objections. See State v. King, 288 Kan. 333, 348-49, 204 P.3d 585 (2009) (Although our past decisions may have relaxed the objection requirement in the evidentiary context, this practice not only has led to confusion as to the standards that should be applied on appeal, but also has deemphasized the role of counsel at trial and has impaired the gatekeeping function of district courts in this state.).We hold that the challenge to Overton's pretrial identification of Harris is not preserved for appeal.