Opinion ID: 1827084
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Whether denial of his motion to suppress identification testimony was error.

Text: Shortly after the stabbings, witnesses Bernadine Jones (Jones) and Cheryl White Dress (White Dress) were taken to the police station. After naming Arguello as the individual involved in the fight, they were shown a picture of him in order to confirm that this was the same individual who committed the crime. Arguello claims that both Jones and White Dress were shown a single photograph of him with the explanation that he was the person involved in the incident. This is an inaccurate recitation of the facts. Both Jones and White Dress testified at the Motions Hearing that, at the time they were shown the police photograph of Arguello, the police had not named Arguello as the individual involved in the fight and seen by Jones and White Dress. The testimony of a detective confirmed this. In-court identifications will be suppressed when they stem from a procedure that is so impermissibly suggestive as to result in a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. The party seeking to suppress the in-court identification bears the burden of establishing the impermissible suggestiveness of the identification procedure. The suggestiveness of the procedure is evaluated by examining the totality of the circumstances surrounding the identification procedure. Under the totality of the circumstances, if there is not a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification, then the reliability of an in-court identification is for the jury to weigh. State v. Hanson, 456 N.W.2d 135, 138 (S.D. 1990) (citations omitted). We agree with the trial court that the identifications were from the independent knowledge of the witnesses with an adequate and reasonable opportunity to observe [Arguello], and the weight to be given those witnesses is up to the jury, not for the court. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion because he failed to establish that the identification procedure was impermissibly suggestive.