Opinion ID: 1963191
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Photograph and Lineup Evidence

Text: Cruz first argues that the district court committed reversible error by admitting a prejudicial photograph and evidence from tainted, suggestive photo lineups. The district court allowed a photograph of Cruz at a party where he and others had been handcuffed; it appears from the record that when the photos were published to the jury, the pictures were cropped so no handcuffs were visible. We first consider whether the admission of the photograph was an abuse of discretion because it was unduly prejudicial. See State v. Hurd, 763 N.W.2d 17, 29-30 (Minn.2009). The photograph was part of a set of photographs that the State was using to establish that Cruz associated with people connected to the Surenos 13. It appears that these photographs were edited to remove the prejudicial connection to a previous arrest. The district court also allowed identification evidence based on the two photo lineups prepared the night of the shootings. In one of the lineups, Cruz was wearing a denim-type light blue shirt, with three men in black shirts, one in white, and one in an orange jumpsuit. The other lineup had Cruz in the same blue shirt and includes two others in blue shirts. When determining whether a photographic lineup was unnecessarily suggestive, we inquire whether the procedure used by the police influenced the witness identification of the defendant. State v. Young, 710 N.W.2d 272, 282 (Minn.2006) (internal quotation marks omitted). The key factor in deciding if such an identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive is whether the defendant was unfairly singled out for identification. Id. If the procedure was unnecessarily suggestive, it is still not error if the totality of the circumstances establishes that the evidence was reliable. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). The only photo lineup that arguably singles out Cruz is the one where Cruz is the only person wearing a blue shirt. However, several witnesses did not make an identification from that lineup, and the witnesses who did were those closest to the shooting when it happened. The lineup was shown to most of the witnesses the night of the shooting, and their identifications are supported by those who knew Cruz personally and testified that he was the shooter. We conclude that the identification procedure did not unfairly single Cruz out for identification and therefore it was not an abuse of discretion for the court to admit the evidence.