Opinion ID: 783210
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Brugman's Identification of Williams

Text: 4 Brugman testified at trial that on the day after the controlled purchase, he viewed a copy of a prior arrest photograph of Williams and identified Williams as the person who handed the cocaine base to his sister. Trial Tr. at 92. Williams contends that Brugman's pretrial identification of Williams was overly suggestive and therefore should have been suppressed by the District Court. 2 We review de novo. United States v. Johnson, 56 F.3d 947, 953 (8th Cir.1995). 5 A two-part test governs the admissibility of identification evidence. First, we determine if the identification procedures were impermissibly suggestive. Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 384, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968). If they were, we examine the totality of the circumstances to determine whether the suggestive procedures created a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. Simmons, 390 U.S. at 384, 88 S.Ct. 967; see also Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 113, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977) (reaffirming totality-of-circumstances standard rather than exclusionary rule). The Government concedes that the identification procedure used by Brugman was impermissibly suggestive. Br. of Appellee at 10. We therefore move to the second part of the test — the likelihood of misidentification — in which we consider the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness' degree of attention, the accuracy of his prior description of the criminal, the level of certainty demonstrated at the confrontation, and the time between the crime and the confrontation. Manson, 432 U.S. at 114, 97 S.Ct. 2243. We have balanced these five factors and conclude there was very little likelihood of misidentification. Brugman viewed Williams from eight-to-ten feet away in the hallway of the apartment during daytime hours. Although Brugman saw Williams only for a moment, there is no evidence of poor lighting or an obstructed view. A twenty-year veteran of the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement who is frequently involved in controlled purchases with persons whom he has never seen, Trial Tr. at 81, 150-51, Brugman surely employed his highest degree of attention throughout the controlled purchase. Although Brugman did not describe Williams immediately following the controlled purchase, he witnessed a photograph of Williams within two days of the purchase and recognized him at that time. For these reasons, we reject Williams's argument that the pretrial identification should have been suppressed.