Opinion ID: 368065
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Photographic Display

Text: 5 On November 29, 1967, the day before trial, the district attorney conducted a photographic spread before Frank Wilson. The district attorney displayed two photographs to the witness, one of Larry Hudson and the other of a co-defendant who was tried with petitioner. The witness testified at trial that he was not told the identity of the persons in the photographs or their significance to the case. When asked if he recognized the men in the photographs the witness replied that he did. On November 30, 1967, the witness made an in-court identification of Hudson. The petitioner contends that the identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable mistaken identification. 6 The due process standard for reviewing photographic identification procedures was stated by the Supreme Court in Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968). This Circuit has applied that standard as a two-prong test. United States v. Smith, 546 F.2d 1275 (5th Cir. 1977); Bloodworth v. Hopper, 539 F.2d 1382 (5th Cir. 1976); United States v. Gidley, 527 F.2d 1345 (5th Cir.), Cert. denied, 429 U.S. 841, 97 S.Ct. 116, 50 L.Ed.2d 110 (1976). The court must first decide whether the photographic display was impermissibly suggestive. If the court concludes the display was suggestive, it must then determine whether the procedure created a substantial risk of misidentification. Under this analysis, reliability is the linchpin in determining the admissibility of identification testimony . . . . Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 2253, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977). Thus, an identification found to be reliable will be admitted even though the confrontation procedure was suggestive. 7 We conclude that the photographic identification procedure employed in this case was impermissibly suggestive. As this court has recognized, a single photograph display is one of the most suggestive methods of identification and is always to be viewed with suspicion. Bloodworth v. Hopper, 539 F.2d 1382 (5th Cir. 1976); see Manson v. Brathwaite, supra, 432 U.S. at 116, 97 S.Ct. 2243; Simmons v. United States, supra, 390 U.S. at 383, 88 S.Ct. 967. Despite the impermissible suggestiveness of the procedure, however, we believe that, under the totality of the circumstances present in this case, there was no substantial likelihood of misidentification. Therefore the identification evidence was properly allowed to go to the jury. 8 The factors to be considered in evaluating the reliability of the identification were enumerated in Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972) and reaffirmed in Manson v. Brathwaite, supra, 432 U.S. at 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243. These include the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness' degree of attention, the accuracy of the witness' prior description of the criminal, the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at the confrontation, and the length of time between the crime and the confrontation. In this case the witness was in close proximity to all three robbers and had an unobstructed view of the gunman as he exchanged words with Meeks. There were no customers at the station during this early morning hour, and, therefore, the three men had Wilson's undivided attention. Moreover, Wilson's attention was naturally focused on the gunman since he was the leader of the trio and the one who spoke to Meeks. At trial 3 Wilson clearly described the clothing worn by the gunman and was quite positive about both his photographic and in-court identification of the petitioner. 4 Wilson also identified the other members of the trio 5 during Hudson's trial and was able to describe each man's role in the crime with a great deal of particularity. Although the fact that the photographic display and the in-court identification occurred some six months after the fatal shooting would be considered a seriously negative factor in most cases, Neil v. Biggers, supra, 409 U.S. at 201, 93 S.Ct. 375, the strength of the other indicia of reliability persuades the court that no mistake was made in this case.