Opinion ID: 1855982
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Zeilinger Identification

Text: At the suppression hearing, Zeilinger, a neighbor of the Hubertuses', testified that on March 9, 1987, a man arrived at his residence seeking help in starting an automobile. Zeilinger spent about 10 minutes helping this man start the automobile, using jumper cables and Zeilinger's own vehicle; this was the only time Zeilinger saw the man in question. Zeilinger testified to the same general effect at trial, adding that Sardeson's automobile was parked on a little-used path 50 to 75 yards from the Hubertuses' house, facing away from it. Sardeson contends that Zeilinger's identification was the result of procedures which were unduly suggestive such as to lead to an irreparably mistaken identification. Zeilinger was interviewed by Lancaster County Sheriff's Deputy Kirk Price the day after the burglary, and Zeilinger agreed to work with Lincoln Police Officer James Spanel to develop a composite sketch of the man he had seen, a task which Zeilinger accomplished later that day and in which he was not coached in any way. At the time, Spanel did not know what the investigation was about, who, if anyone, was suspected, nor that Sardeson was then involved in burglaries in general or the Hubertus burglary in particular. Price stated that before he spoke with Zeilinger, Sardeson had not been a suspect in the Hubertus burglary and that he did not know Sardeson at that time. After completion of the composite sketch, Zeilinger was asked to pick out the man he had seen from a set of six black-and-white photographs and to do so again sometime later, using a different set of color photos. Zeilinger was asked to examine the second set of photos due to the fact the first set of photos had such a small picture of the face and the facial features wouldn't show up quite as well in that picture [police investigators] decided to see if [they] had some better photos of close-ups of the face. According to Zeilinger, I picked the person in each set that I thought pretty much resembled him. Although Zeilinger was pretty sure the man in the photos he selected was the same man who had sought his help on March 9, 1987, he was not able to say so positively, and at one point in the investigation may have indicated to police that there was only a 50-50 chance that the photos portrayed the man he had seen. However, in court during the suppression hearing, Zeilinger positively identified Sardeson, in person, as the man in question, although he indicated he was not [a] hundred percent sure. Sardeson was the only person represented in both the first and second photo arrays. When Zeilinger was asked in the suppression hearing if anyone other than Sardeson was represented in both photo arrays, Zeilinger indicated that he had never before noticed one way or the other. On April 7, 1987, Zeilinger was again asked by Price to examine a photo array, one not containing a photo of Sardeson. At this time, Zeilinger did not recognize a photo of Sardeson's roommate, Russell Harris, also considered a suspect in the Hubertus burglary. With regard to the use of photographic arrays, this court has held that whether identification procedures were unduly suggestive and conducive to a substantial likelihood of irreparable mistaken identification is to be determined by a consideration of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the procedures. State v. Price, 229 Neb. 448, 427 N.W.2d 81 (1988), citing State v. Swoopes, 223 Neb. 914, 395 N.W.2d 500 (1986), which was overruled on other grounds in State v. Jackson, 225 Neb. 843, 408 N.W.2d 720 (1987) (concerning lesser offenses included in attempted crimes). Evidence of an extrajudicial identification is admissible when made under circumstances precluding the suspicion of unfairness or unreliability and where the out-of-court declarant is present at the trial and subject to cross-examination, whether or not the out-of-court declarant made a positive in-court identification. State v. Richard, 228 Neb. 872, 424 N.W. 2d 859 (1988). See, also, State v. Trevino, 230 Neb. 494, 432 N.W.2d 503 (1988), applying the Richard rule to an extrajudicial in-person identification. The factors to be considered in determining the likelihood of misidentification, the first aspect of the Richard test, are 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. State v. Trevino, supra ; State v. Richard, supra . Sardeson is correct in stating that the facts of his case present a closer question than have those of several cases challenging the validity of extrajudicial identification procedures recently faced by this court. See, e.g., State v. Trevino, supra ; State v. Price, supra ; State v. Richard, supra . But see, State v. Palmer, 224 Neb. 282, 399 N.W.2d 706 (1986); State v. Swoopes, supra . Nevertheless, a review of the facts in light of the Richard standards demonstrates that the district court's ruling on Sardeson's suppression motion was not clearly erroneous. Zeilinger had 10 minutes in which to observe the man whose automobile he helped start, ample opportunity to commit his appearance to memory. Although Zeilinger was not as motivated to remember the man's face as were, for example, several of the eyewitnesses in State v. Trevino, supra , the record discloses a face-to-face conversation between the two men followed by Zeilinger's effort to render the man assistance at some inconvenience to himself. This is sufficient evidence of interested attentiveness to support the district court's determination. Zeilinger, the day following his encounter with the stalled motorist, produced a composite sketch of the man of sufficient accuracy that police personnel only tangentially involved in the case immediately recognized the person depicted as Sardeson; photographs entered into evidence independently confirm the striking resemblance the composite bears to its model. Although Zeilinger declined to represent himself as 100 percent confident of his own identification, the degree of confidence he did express was clearly sufficient to warrant submission of his evidence to the jury, particularly in light of all attendant circumstances, including the brevity of the interval between Zeilinger's observation of the man and his production of the composite sketch. In sum, the record clearly established satisfaction of the first branch of the Richard test. Concerning the second branch of the Richard test, the record demonstrates that Zeilinger was present at trial and was not only subject to cross-examination, but was, in fact, vigorously cross-examined. The district court's determination of Sardeson's motions to suppress the evidence taken from Lillibridge and Zeilinger's identification testimony is thus not clearly erroneous; this third summarized assignment of error is therefore also without merit.