Opinion ID: 1029500
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Witness #2–Brenda Freeman

Text: The second witness, Brenda Freeman, who had been outside the store prior to the robbery and saw the robber pacing in the parking lot, testified that she went to the liquor store on May 24, 2006, around 7:30 p.m. When she pulled into the parking lot, she noticed a man outside the store, standing a few feet from her car on the sidewalk. He caught her attention because he had his hood up over his head and it was not yet cold 7 outside. The man’s face was not covered at the time. She remembered his face and his fair complexion. On her way out of the liquor store, a person wearing a mask entered and Freeman noticed that the masked person had a gun. She ran to her car and called 911. She heard a gunshot and shortly thereafter saw the robber leave the store, all of which she reported to the 911 operator. Freeman noticed that the robber was wearing blue jeans and a dark jacket with some red on it. At the show-up, Freeman instantly recognized the suspect as the person she saw before she went into the liquor store. She testified that he was the face of the person [she] saw outside the store. 3. District Court’s Ruling on the Suppression Motion The court summarized that, given the witnesses’ testimony along with the fact that there was another witness who followed the automobile that left the scene of the crime, and the fact that Porter had no chance to change clothes and was wearing the very clothes at arrest that the witnesses testified about from the robbery, it was almost like an evidentiary chain, ironclad, lay down identification. [T]here isn't even an iota of unreliability about this. It's – it's almost like a movie camera following the robber until his arrest and return. The district court thus concluded that the show-up was not impermissibly suggestive and the identifications were reliable 8 under the totality of the circumstances, and denied Porter's motion to suppress. After a jury trial, a jury found Porter guilty on all counts. The district court sentenced Porter to concurrent 235month terms of imprisonment on Counts One and Three, and a consecutive 120-month term of imprisonment on Count Two. The total sentence of imprisonment was 355 months.