Opinion ID: 674597
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Challenges to the Array

Text: 122 Both Lan Tran and Jimmy contend that the array itself was unfair, principally because Lan Tran's picture was an uncropped, informal photo and because Jimmy's picture was black and white. Having examined the array, we disagree. 123 In evaluating whether or not a photographic array was unduly suggestive, a court must consider several factors, including the size of the array, the manner of presentation by the officers, and the contents of the array. See United States v. Concepcion, 983 F.2d at 377; United States v. Maldonado-Rivera, 922 F.2d at 974. If there is nothing inherently prejudicial about the presentation, such as use of a very small number of photographs, see, e.g., United States v. Boston, 508 F.2d 1171, 1177 (2d Cir.1974) (eight-photo array not impermissibly suggestive), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 1001, 95 S.Ct. 2401, 44 L.Ed.2d 669 (1975); United States v. Bennett, 409 F.2d 888, 898 (2d Cir.) (array of six not impermissibly small), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 852, 90 S.Ct. 113, 24 L.Ed.2d 101 (1969); see also United States v. Marrero, 705 F.2d 652, 655 n. 5 (2d Cir.1983) (six-photo array upheld); United States v. Archibald, 734 F.2d 938, 940-41 (2d Cir.1984) (same), or the utterance of suggestive comments before an identification is made, the principal question is whether the picture of the accused, matching descriptions given by the witness, so stood out from all of the other photographs as to 'suggest to an identifying witness that [that person] was more likely to be the culprit,'  Jarrett v. Headley, 802 F.2d at 41 (quoting United States v. Archibald, 734 F.2d at 940). 124 The array used for most of the identifications in the present case contained more than 50 photographs, nearly all of which were of Asian males. All of the men pictured appeared to be of roughly the same age and had similar hair color. The photographs displayed a wide variety of hairstyles and a mixture of men with and without facial hair. Though the array consisted mostly of color mug shots, there were several black-and-white photos, all of which were mug shots, and there were several informal color photographs, all of which were similar to each other. We conclude that the array was not unduly suggestive. 125