Opinion ID: 1200539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Identification testimony of the victims.

Text: McCary says that the trial court erred in permitting Hypes and Emory to testify as to his identity. McCary relies upon the inability of the victims to identify him from a photographic array and their acknowledgment that they were told by others that their assailant was McCary. Hypes and Emory received hospital treatment for their wounds. The photographic array was exhibited to them before they left the hospital several hours after the crimes were committed. The photograph of McCary was eight or ten years old. Hypes told the police that one photograph looked like the robber; she believed she could identify him from the array but she preferred not to base her identification on an old picture. She gave the police a description of the robber based upon her personal observation and expressed confidence that she could identify him in person. The next day, Emory also told the police that she believed she could identify the robber if he were placed before her. Hypes cut out a picture of McCary published in a local newspaper with an account of the crimes committed at the Savings and Loan. She conceded that a member of the Sheriff's Department informed her that McCary was the robber. Emory could not remember who gave her the same information. Both victims, however, made positive, unequivocal identifications of McCary at his preliminary hearing, some 15 months after the crimes, and again at his trial. Both victims testified that they identified him as the man, whatever his name might be, who committed the crimes. In Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 199-200, 93 S.Ct. 375, 382-83, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972), the Supreme Court stated that in determining whether under the totality of the circumstances identification is reliable the following criteria should be applied: As indicated by our cases, the factors to be considered in evaluating the likelihood of misidentification 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. Hypes and Emory had the opportunity to view McCary not only at the time of the crimes but at other times earlier in the day. Hypes noticed him as she walked past him in the street shortly after reporting for work. Both Hypes and Emory observed him on the two occasions that he entered the Savings and Loan to inquire about his brother. Both saw him walking outside the building before he entered for the third time. On each of his three visits, no one but McCary and the two employees was in the branch; when the women looked at McCary, his face was not covered. The degree of the victims' attention is shown by their curiosity concerning McCary's actions before the crimes. Emory was sufficiently disturbed about his blocking the drive-in window to suggest calling the police to have his car moved. She also committed to memory his license number, a feat that subsequently facilitated the investigation of the crimes. Both victims gave a description of the criminal, including details of his clothing and shoes. According to Lieutenant Hudgins, the description of the man matched McCary. Moreover, Davis, who knew McCary, saw him next to the Savings and Loan about five minutes before the crimes were committed. The level of certainty demonstrated by both witnesses was high. Neither manifested the slightest doubt that McCary was the criminal who had perpetrated the offenses. Although 15 months elapsed between the crimes and the identification testimony given by the victims at McCary's preliminary hearing, the mere passage of time is insufficient to invalidate the identification. Considering the totality of the circumstances, we hold that the identification testimony was not tainted by the police when they supplied McCary's name as that of the man whom the victims had described. We further hold that the inability of the victims to identify McCary from the photographic array, while a factor to be weighed by the jury in considering the evidence, did not render the identification testimony inadmissible. We conclude that the in-court identifications had independent sources free from taint, specifically the ample opportunities the victims availed themselves of to observe McCary in his activities before and during the crimes. For the reasons assigned, we will affirm the judgment. Affirmed.