Opinion ID: 2314684
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: grant's in-court identification of greene

Text: Greene argues that the trial court committed reversible error in permitting Larry Grant to identify him at trial. Because Grant failed to identify Greene at the suppression hearing the day before, Greene asserts that the identification at trial had little probative value, compared with its potential for confusing the jury. This court has held, however, that the failure to make an earlier identification goes to the weight to be accorded to the witness' in-court testimony, and not to its admissibility. Middleton v. United States, D.C.App., 401 A.2d 109, 133 (1979) (citations omitted). Because of counsel's thorough cross-examination, the jurors knew about Grant's failure the day before. It was the jurors' proper role, therefore, to determine the weight that Grant's in-court identification deserved. See id. (no error to admit in-court identification by witness who had failed to identify defendant from photo arrays); cf. Reavis v. United States, D.C.App., 395 A.2d 75, 77-79 (1978) (not plain error to admit in-court identification by witness who had failed to identify defendant from photo arrays and line-up); In re W.K., D.C.App., 323 A.2d 442, 444 (1974) (not error to admit in-court identifications by witnesses who had not attempted or made any pretrial identification, either by photograph or otherwise).