Opinion ID: 1103334
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Melanie Yarborough's Identifications

Text: Fitzpatrick challenges Yarborough's identification on the grounds that her in-court identification was tainted by the police showing her the photo array again prior to the suppression hearing, thus bolstering her confidence in her identification, and that she had a limited opportunity to observe the pizza delivery man on August 17. The trial court denied Fitzpatrick's motion to suppress the out-of-court identification and any subsequent in-court identification by Yarborough, finding that there was no evidence to indicate that the identifications were the result of any suggestion. That determination is amply supported by the record. [8] The record reveals that a detective explained to Yarborough that the detective was going to show her a group of photos, and to look at absolutely all of them before she made any decision, to see if the person was indeed there that she recalls being at A.J. Howard's that night. The fact that the detective testified that Yarborough was asked to look at each photograph before deciding, that Yarborough looked at every photo and immediately selected Fitzpatrick's photo in less than ten seconds, coupled with Yarborough's testimony that she got a good look at him for approximately ten minutes, eliminates any chance of misidentification. Based on the foregoing, Yarborough's out-of-court identification of Fitzpatrick was reliable and not the product of suggestion. Finally, similar to the analysis above regarding Howard's in-court identification, Yarborough's in-court identification was based on her independent recollection of observing Fitzpatrick at Howard's house on the night of August 17, 1996. In addition, given the testimony regarding the ample opportunity Yarborough had to observe Fitzpatrick and the certainty with which she made the identification, Fitzpatrick cannot sustain the argument that Yarborough's viewing the photo array prior to the suppression hearing unduly bolstered her identification. See Paschal, 251 So.2d at 259. We conclude the in-court identification was properly admitted.