Opinion ID: 2127232
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Could A.H. Properly Identify Brown?

Text: Brown first asserts the trial court erred in permitting A.H. to identify her in court. Brown contends that the identification was tainted because A.H. had previously been shown a single photograph of the defendant before she testified at the trial of Alton Coleman in Ohio. An Ohio prosecutor had shown her Brown's picture and asked, Can you identify this person? The trial court held a hearing on Brown's motion to suppress A.H.'s identification; it denied the motion. Brown contends that this constitutes reversible error. This Court has long held that extrajudicial exhibition of a single photograph to a victim is an unduly suggestive identification procedure. Parker v. State (1976), 265 Ind. 595, 358 N.E.2d 110; Emerson v. State (1972), 259 Ind. 399, 287 N.E.2d 867. As a result, [d]irect eyewitness identification at trial is inadmissible if pre-trial photographic identification procedures which preceded it were so impermissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. Haun v. State (1983), Ind., 451 N.E.2d 1072, 1075; Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968). This Court has repeatedly held, however, that an in-court identification by a witness who has participated in an impermissibly suggestive out-of-court identification is admissible if the witness has an independent basis for the in-court identification. French v. State (1987), Ind., 516 N.E.2d 40, 42; Henson v. State (1984), Ind., 467 N.E.2d 750. To determine whether A.H.'s in-court identification was permissible in Brown's trial requires determining whether there was clear and convincing evidence that the witness had an adequate independent basis for her in-court identification. See Heiman v. State (1987), Ind., 511 N.E.2d 458, 460. This review searches the totality of the circumstances pertaining to the witness' opportunity to observe the perpetrator during the commission of the crime... . Dorsey v. State (1986), Ind., 490 N.E.2d 260, 267; see also Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199, 93 S.Ct. 375, 382, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972). Among the pertinent factors are the length of time the witness was in the presence of the perpetrator, the distance the witness was from him, the lighting conditions at the time, the witness' capacity for observation, and the opportunity to observe particular characteristics of the perpetrator. Dorsey, 490 N.E.2d at 267; see also Biggers, 409 U.S. 188 at 199, 93 S.Ct. 375 at 382. The evidence suggests that A.H. was in the company of Brown for at least forty minutes, the time it was estimated to take for a child to walk with Brown to the park where the attack occurred. This walk and the subsequent attack took place in broad daylight, providing ample opportunity for a good look. A.H.'s eye doctor testified that the child could recognize anybody up to six or seven feet away. Record at 2319 (testimony of Dr. Raymond Carmody at suppression hearing). Based on the nature of the attack, A.H. was so close to Brown that her nearsightedness and lack of glasses would not have prevented her from perceiving and describing appellant. A.H.'s identification of Brown at trial was unequivocal, and she emphasized that her identification was based on her experience in the woods on the day of the incident. Furthermore, A.H. had already tentatively identified the defendant in a line up in which her nearsightedness may have come into play. Id. at 2273-77 (testimony of Mary Hillard); id. at 2296-97 (testimony of Lieutenant Kenneth Barnes). She had also earlier ruled out as suspects people shown to her who were not her assailants, id. at 2306-07 (testimony of Barnes). Given these facts, covering the breadth of conditions mentioned in Dorsey, 490 N.E.2d at 267, there is clear and convincing evidence that A.H.'s in-court identification was based upon observations gained independently of any unduly suggestive pre-trial procedure. A.H.'s in-court identification of Brown was properly admitted at trial.