Opinion ID: 1974893
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Dennis Jackson's Remaining Contentions

Text: Appellant Jackson argues that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress identification testimony and in admitting into evidence the in-court identifications of him made by eye witnesses to the robberies. In a pretrial motion, appellant moved to suppress the pretrial identifications of some of the witnesses made from a photographic array and from lineups conducted on July 18, 1984 and September 21, 1984 on the grounds that the compositions were unduly suggestive. Essentially, appellant makes the same claim on appeal with respect to the lineups. [12] A challenge to the admissibility of pretrial identifications requires a two part analysis: (1) whether the identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable misidentification, and, if so, (2) whether the identification resulting therefrom was reliable under the totality of the circumstances. Henderson v. United States, 527 A.2d 1262, 1267 (D.C.1987); Stewart v. United States, 490 A.2d 619, 622 (D.C.1985). In this case, the trial court, which viewed the relevant evidence, made findings that the identification procedures were not unduly suggestive. In reviewing appellant's claim, we are bound by the trial court's findings if they are supported by the evidence and consistent with the law. Stewart, 490 A.2d at 623. After reviewing the record, we find support for the trial court's conclusion with respect to both lineups. We find nothing in the lineup photos which would direct the witness' attention to a particular individual, which must be the subject of our focus. See Henderson, 527 A.2d at 1268; McClain v. United States, 460 A.2d 562, 566 (D.C.1983). [13] Appellant also argues that, in any event, the identification testimony of the eyewitnesses against him was so weak and unreliable that they should have been excluded for lack of probative value. Having failed to prevail on the suppression motion, as occurred here, [a] defendant may challenge the admission of such testimony by raising a timely objection to its admissibility at trial on the ground that under the law of evidence testimony is so inherently weak or unreliable as to lack probative value. Sheffield v. United States, 397 A.2d 963, 967 (D.C.1979), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 965, 99 S.Ct. 2414, 60 L.Ed.2d 1071 (1979). Since appellant did not raise the objection at trial, we reverse only for plain error. See id. Under that standard, we will not reverse unless the error `jeopardize[s] the very fairness and integrity of the trial.' Id. (quoting Watts v. United States, 362 A.2d 706, 709 (D.C.1976) (en banc)). Here, the record does not support a finding of plain error. The reliability of an identification is predicated upon a number of factors, among which are the ability of the witness to make a meaningful identificationthe witness' opportunity to observe and the length of time of the observations, the lighting conditions, the length of time between the observations and the identification, the stimuli operating on the witness at the time of the observation, as well as the degree of certainty expressed by the witness in making the identification. Beatty v. United States, 544 A.2d 699, 701 (D.C.1988). Applying these factors to the account of the eyewitnesses whose identifications appellant Jackson challenges, we find no error, and clearly no plain error, as a result of their admission as evidence. We consider Jackson's challenge to each of those witnesses. Appellant Jackson contends that the initial description of a witness to the Kovak's shooting, Reginald Reid, was vague and incomplete as compared with his in-court identification. Jackson argues that the identification should have been excluded, particularly because five months elapsed between the offense and the lineup. We disagree. Reid, a former military policeman, provided ample testimony of his concentration on the gunman (Jackson) with an unobstructed view and under good lighting conditions. Although less certain of the identification at the time of trial, Reid was quite positive in the few months after the offense when the lineup was conducted. Another witness to the Kovak's robbery, Errick Murdock, whose identification appellant also challenges, also testified that he had a clear view of appellant, and he told the police right after the robbery that he might be able to identify the gunman. Murdock examined several photo arrays in which appellant's photograph was not included and made no identification. This witness had no doubt when he selected appellant Jackson at the lineup, and he expressed 100 percent certainty at trial that appellant was the shooter. The identification of Jackson as the gunman in the Sol's robbery by Alan Porter, the store manager, had sufficient indicia of reliability to preclude exclusion under Sheffield, supra . Porter testified that he concentrated on the gunman's face from a distance of three feet. When Porter chose Jackson at the lineup on September 24, he was between eighty and ninety percent sure of the identification. Porter's level of certainty at trial was also positive. Margaret Peach, a witness at the Sol's robbery, was the least certain of her identification of appellant as the gunman. She testified that she watched the robbery from her seat behind the counter of Sol's Liquor Store and saw the left side of gunman's face. She described him as 5'7 or 5'8 having a small build, and a dark complexion. At the September lineup, she selected appellant Jackson as the person most closely resembling the gunman. At trial, she said the she would know the gunman if she saw him again, and thereafter testified that appellant somewhat looks like the person. Since this is not a single eyewitness case and Peach's testimony is merely cumulative, we are not persuaded that the admission of her identification is reversible error. See Middleton v. United States, 401 A.2d 109, 134 (D.C. 1979). Any weaknesses in Peach's testimony could be exposed on cross-examination and properly weighed by the jury in their evaluation of credibility. See id.; see also Adams v. United States, 302 A.2d 232, 234 (D.C.1973).