Opinion ID: 77264
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hearing On Identification Evidence

Text: 76 Before trial, Brown moved to suppress all out-of-court identifications. In that motion, he urged the district court to hold an evidentiary hearing. The trial court refused to suppress the identifications and declined to conduct an evidentiary hearing because Brown failed to present any evidence that the methods used by the investigators were unduly suggestive or coercive. The magistrate judge expressly said that if, after viewing the photo-lineup, Brown had any evidence supporting the notion that the government had employed suggestive techniques, he would hold an evidentiary hearing at that time. Brown never made such a showing, and no hearing was held. We review the denial of an evidentiary hearing for abuse of discretion. United States v. Gay, 251 F.3d 950, 951 (11th Cir.2001). 77 Generally, we employ a two-part test for determining whether an out-of-court identification was properly admitted. First, we ask whether the original identification procedure was unduly suggestive. If we conclude that it was, we then consider whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the identification was nonetheless reliable. United States v. Diaz, 248 F.3d 1065, 1102 (11th Cir.2001). The Constitution does not impose a per se rule requiring an evidentiary hearing in every case. Watkins v. Sowders, 449 U.S. 341, 349, 101 S.Ct. 654, 66 L.Ed.2d 549 (1981); United States v. Smith, 546 F.2d 1275, 1279-80 (5th Cir.1977) (holding that [a]n evidentiary hearing is not required where none of the critical facts are in dispute and the facts as alleged by the defendant if true would not justify the relief requested (quotation marks omitted)). 7 78 Here, Brown made no argument and presented no evidence suggesting that the techniques used by the police were unduly suggestive. Under these circumstances the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to hold an evidentiary hearing. See United States v. Cooper, 203 F.3d 1279, 1285 (11th Cir.2000) (no abuse of discretion in denying motion for an evidentiary hearing where underlying motion to suppress was wholly lacking in sufficient factual allegations). Moreover, as the government correctly observes, any error arising from purportedly improper identification evidence would be subject to harmless error analysis. United States v. Beale, 921 F.2d 1412, 1433-34 (11th Cir. 1991). At trial, two witnesses testified that they saw Brown at the Post Office and selected him from a photo lineup. Those witnesses were effectively cross-examined regarding their identifications, one telling the jury that Brown was the closest resemblance to the man he saw at the Post Office and the other stating that although he was not one hundred percent sure, he thought Brown was the person he observed. Given the overwhelming evidence of Brown's guilt, including Brown's confession, the recovered money orders, and the DNA samples of the victim's blood found on his jacket, any conceivable errors related to the two identifications were harmless because there is no reasonable probability that the evidence complained of might have contributed to the conviction. See id. at 1433 (quotation marks omitted) (finding any purported identification errors harmless where the government introduced overwhelming evidence of the defendants' guilt).