Opinion ID: 597808
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Aponte

Text: 22 Aponte contends that Gonzalez's identification of him was unreliable for several reasons. Gonzalez was first shown photographs of suspects roughly six months after Robert's murder. The first array he was shown consisted of mug shots of Aponte and five others, but Gonzalez was unable to select Robert's killer from the group. The police then assembled a second six-photo array, which also included Aponte's photograph. Gonzalez eventually selected Aponte's picture, but only after studying the second array for a half hour. At a Wade hearing during trial, see United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 (1967), when Gonzalez was asked whether he could select Robert's killer from among the defendants seated in the courtroom, he at first identified codefendant Fernando Alvarez, not Aponte. Only after being informed that he had selected the wrong man did Gonzalez identify Aponte. Aponte contends that the first photo array was impermissibly suggestive because his picture bore a legend indicating that he had been arrested in Manhattan, whereas the others bore legends indicating that they had been arrested in Brooklyn. He challenges the second array on the ground that the inclusion of his picture, in light of its presence in the first array just reviewed by Gonzalez, impermissibly suggested to Gonzalez that he should select Aponte's picture. He contends that the in-court identification of him by Gonzalez as the man who shot and killed Robert was the product of, inter alia, these photographic identification procedures, and he argues that the unreliability of Gonzalez's photographic identification was underscored by his initial selection of a defendant other than Aponte at the Wade hearing. 23 Individually, these challenges must be rejected. An array is not unduly suggestive merely because legends on the pictures reveal that the defendant was arrested in one borough and the other persons were arrested in another. United States v. Archibald, 734 F.2d at 940. Further, it is unlikely that the Manhattan legend on Aponte's photo, in contrast to the Brooklyn legends on the others, suggested to Gonzalez that he should select Aponte's picture, given that the killing of Robert took place in Brooklyn. Indeed, Gonzalez failed to select Aponte's picture from that array. Nor does the fact that a suspect's picture was placed in a second array after a witness has failed to select anyone from the first array automatically make the second array unduly suggestive. United States v. Maguire, 918 F.2d 254, 263 (1st Cir.1990) (suspect's inclusion in two photospreads, even with same photo, not constitutionally impermissible), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1421, 113 L.Ed.2d 474 (1991); see United States v. DiPalermo, 606 F.2d 17, 21 (2d Cir.1979) (per curiam) (criticizing multiple showings of defendant's photograph but concluding that procedure did not create substantial likelihood of misidentification), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 915, 100 S.Ct. 1274, 63 L.Ed.2d 599 (1980). And the fact that a witness does not initially identify the defendant during a Wade hearing does not necessarily make an eventual in-court identification impermissible. United States v. Maldonado-Rivera, 922 F.2d 934, 976 (2d Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2811, 115 L.Ed.2d 984 (1991). 24 Normally if the pretrial procedures were not unduly suggestive any question as to the reliability of the proposed in-court identification will affect only the identification's weight rather than its admissibility. See, e.g., Foster v. California, 394 U.S. 440, 442 n. 2, 89 S.Ct. 1127, 1128 n. 2, 22 L.Ed.2d 402 (1969). A witness's inability to identify the defendant at a Wade hearing, however, introduce[s] a need for further consideration, see United States v. Maldonado-Rivera, 922 F.2d at 975, and in the present case Gonzalez's responses, considered in combination and viewed in the totality of the circumstances, raised such serious questions of reliability as to require the court to employ the Neil v. Biggers analysis to determine whether or not to allow Gonzalez to identify Aponte at trial. In his Wade hearing, Gonzalez testified that he was in the grocery store, facing the door, when a man wearing a baseball cap entered, repeatedly shot Robert, and left. Though Gonzalez had been just four or five feet away from the killer and characterized his opportunity to observe as good, he implied that at least some of the killer's face was covered ([n]ot much was covered), and he testified that he had just a quick look at the shooter, as the entire incident took only 5-7 seconds: It was just a quick look. Just like this and that's it. Gonzalez had never seen the shooter before, and he gave no description to the authorities. He was not shown a photo array until some six months later. None of these factors strongly indicated that Gonzalez could reliably identify the killer, and all of them should have been evaluated in the light of his complete inability to identify Aponte from the first array, his inability for nearly a half hour to identify Aponte from the second array, and his initial selection of a defendant other than Aponte at the Wade hearing. In sum, the Neil v. Biggers analysis should have indicated that Gonzalez's pretrial identifications were not sufficiently reliable to permit him to identify Aponte at trial. 25 Nonetheless, we conclude that even if the admission of Gonzalez's testimony was error, it was harmless in light of the record as a whole, for the other evidence that Aponte was Robert's killer was overwhelming. Thus, one Diane Rodriguez observed the shooting and was confident in her identification of Aponte as the murderer, both initially when shown a photo-array and thereafter at trial. Aponte does not challenge here the admission of her identification. Further, two Organization members testified that Aponte had committed the murder at Concepcion's behest. One, Adam Pomales, testified that on the day of the murder Aponte said he had just missed killing Robert the day before but would get him that day; that Concepcion then gave Aponte a gun, and Aponte promised Concepcion that it will be done today in 20 minutes, and departed; that Concepcion then asked Pomales, who functioned as, inter alia, Concepcion's treasurer, to give him $10,000 for Aponte because Aponte was going to knock off Robert; and that when word arrived later that evening that Robert had been killed, he and Concepcion went to meet Aponte, and Concepcion gave Aponte the $10,000. Pomales also testified that at Concepcion's garage on the following day, Aponte fully described to Pomales and Concepcion how Aponte had shot and killed Robert. In all the circumstances, the admission of Gonzalez's identification testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.