Court Opinion

ID: 9682343
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:09:41.779803+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:38.830966
License: Public Domain

DOWD, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Defendant’s sole point on appeal pertains to an impermissible prejudicial inference derived by the jury from their knowledge as to the source of the thirty-six photographs used by the police to aid the victim in identifying the defendant as the thief. The majority of this court holds that the trial court improperly authorized the jury to consider defendant’s criminal record in determining defendant’s cupability of his current criminal charge. Although the trial court overruled his objection and denied his motion for a mistrial, I see no “seal of approval” by the trial court.
First, I do not believe the point is preserved for appellate review. The police officer had already testified that the victim *201had viewed thirty-six department photographs. Then the question was asked: “Where did these photographs come from?” There was no objection and the police officer answered: “They came from my robbery books and my crime books in the Ninth District.” It was only then that an objection was made and a mistrial requested. An objection must be timely made in order to preserve error for appellate review and this usually necessitates making the objection at the earliest possible opportunity so that the trial judge may take corrective action. State v. Helm, 624 S.W.2d 513, 516 (Mo.App.1981).
By this dissent, I do not wish to imply that such testimony is permissible. However, within the context of the complete trial, I do not believe that a reversal of the defendant’s conviction is warranted.
This crime did not occur within seconds but rather Mr. James, the crime victim, spent fifteen to twenty minutes with the thief before the theft occurred. During this period of time, Mr. James became sufficiently familiar with the thief’s appearance to recognize him not only by his face and general appearance, but also by the thief’s shoes. Familiarity with his face help Mr. James identify the defendant as the thief from thirty-six pictures shown to him by the police from their department photographs. This photographic identification occurred on the very day of the theft. Familiarity with the defendant’s face, general appearance and shoes enabled Mr. James to identify the defendant as the thief from a police line-up two weeks after the incident. The state made clear this complete pre-trial positive identification process to the jury. Lastly, at trial Mr. James again positively identified the defendant as the thief before the jury. Such a strong, repeated positive identification by a person whose opportunity to become familiar with the defendant’s appearance over a relatively long period of time renders the trial court’s error harmless. Compare United States v. Porter, 544 F.2d 936, 939 (8th Cir.1976). Defendant has had a fair trial. I would affirm his conviction.