Opinion ID: 2515839
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pretrial lineups.

Text: Given the August 22, 1980, receipt linking Compton's murderer to the McDonald's restaurant on Leffingwell Road in Whittier, there is little doubt that Weissinger, who was working at the McDonald's that night, observed the killer. The only issues concern Weissinger's identification of defendant as the man she saw. As recounted above, Weissinger picked other men from live lineups, conducted in November 1980 and July 1981, [52] before she picked defendant from a photo lineup in May 1983. Subsequently, in October 1983, Weissinger tentatively identified defendant in a live lineup. The parties agree that the October 1983 lineup was conducted in the unwaived absence of defendant's counsel, and the penalty jury heard no reference to it. On two later occasions, in 1985 and 1991, Weissinger was shown the same photo array from which she had identified defendant in May 1983. At trial, Weissinger testified that, although she took her time to decide, she ultimately was certain, when she picked a photo from the May 1983 array, that the picture she selected showed the man she saw at the McDonald's restaurant on the night of August 22, 1980. Weissinger confirmed that she so advised Detective Lewis, who was supervising the May 1983 photo lineup. The defense stipulated that the photo in question was defendant's. Neither the prosecutor nor defense counsel inquired specifically about any identification Weissinger made after May 1983. Neither counsel sought to confirm whether, at the time of the 1992 trial, Weissinger was still sure she had picked the right man in May 1983. Moreover, Weissinger was not asked to identify defendant in person as he sat before her in the courtroom, and she did not do so. [53] Defendant urges that Weissinger's courtroom identification testimony was tainted by flaws in the lineup procedures. These defects, defendant insists, include the illegal live lineup of October 1983, from which defendant's counsel was absent (see United States v. Wade (1967) 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 ( Wade )), and the unnecessary, unduly suggestive reshowing of the May 1983 photo array on two later occasions, in 1985 and 1991 (see Manson v. Brathwaite (1977) 432 U.S. 98, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140; Neil v. Biggers (1972) 409 U.S. 188, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401; People v. Gordon (1990) 50 Cal.3d 1223, 1242, 270 Cal.Rptr. 451, 792 P.2d 251). Defendant argues that due process thus required exclusion of Weissinger's testimony because, under the multipronged totality of circumstances test established by the United States Supreme Court, the testimony did not possess sufficient indicia of reliability to overcome the corrupting effect of the improper lineups. ( Manson v. Brathwaite, supra, at pp. 110-114, 97 S.Ct. 2243; Neil v. Biggers, supra, at pp. 199-200, 93 S.Ct. 375.) However, no taint arising from improper lineups appears in Weissinger's carefully circumscribed testimony, which was confined to her May 1983 photo identification. Defendant does not suggest that, prior to May 1983, any efforts by the police to obtain an identification from Weissinger were unduly suggestive in a way that might cause her to misidentify defendant as the McDonald's customer she saw. Indeed, so far as appears, neither defendant's photo, nor his person, played any part in those efforts. Defendant criticizes the May 1983 photo lineup on grounds that Weissinger was shown pictures in a group, rather than sequentially. However, he cites no case authority for the proposition that a group photo array is, per se, unduly suggestive. Defendant focuses on events that occurred after the May 1983 photo identification. He insists that the improper October 1983 live lineup conducted in counsel's unwaived absence, and the subsequent reshowing of the May 1983 photo array to Weissinger in 1985 and 1991, may have locked her into her May 1983 identification, and may actually have created false memories, hardening her sincere but mistaken belief in the accuracy of the identification she made at the earlier time. As noted, however, Weissinger did not testify to anything that could have been affected by these subsequent events. She vouched only for the certainty of her May 1983 identification at the time it was made. This was an issue upon which both she and Detective Lewis could be effectively examined. Moreover, the jury could fully assess whether Weissinger's testimony, so limited and scrutinized, constituted persuasive evidence that defendant was the man she observed at McDonald's on August 22, 1980. Under these circumstances, there was no need for an independent assessment whether Weissinger's testimony should be excluded as unreliable. It was properly admitted. [54]