Opinion ID: 2967868
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Photo Spread

Text: Four days before the preliminary hearing in the Virginia court at which Alam identified Wills as the man whom he had discovered burglarizing his home, Fairfax County Police Detective Michael Feightner showed Alam a six picture photo spread containing Wills' picture. Alam identified Wills from this spread as the burglar. On February 11, 2000, a motions hearing was held in the district court, at which Detective Feightner testified that during the photo lineup prior to the Virginia preliminary hearing, he had told Alam that Wills' picture was among those displayed. The district court denied Wills' motion to suppress the photo identification. At trial, the district court reiterated that any suggestive procedures used in the photo identification were irrelevant because Alam had identified Wills later at the preliminary hearing. The district court did not permit Wills to question Detective Feightner about the photo identification or his investigation of the burglary stating that both issues were irrelevant. Wills now argues that he should have been able to examine Detective Feightner about the photo identification because it was relevant to Wills' position that he was not the burglar. We agree with the district court in its decision that whether Wills was the actual burglar was not the issue in the trial in the district court. The government did not offer the out-of-court photo identification into evidence at the trial, rather it relied upon Alam's identification of Wills at the preliminary hearing to support its theory of motive. Therefore, any suggestive measures employed by Detective Feightner at the earlier photo identification were irrelevant, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding testimony related to the photo identification. The issue was not whether Wills was the burglar, but whether Alam had identified him as such.