Court Opinion

ID: 9426869
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:19:08.767874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:03.544963
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Stevens,
concurring.
While I join the Court’s opinion, I would emphasize two points.
First, as I indicated in my opinion in United States ex rel. Kirby v. Sturges, 510 F. 2d 397, 405-406 (CA7 1975), the arguments in favor of fashioning new rules to minimize the danger of convicting the innocent on the basis of unreliable eyewitness testimony carry substantial 'force. Nevertheless, *118for the reasons stated in that opinion, as well as those stated by the Court today, I am persuaded that this rulemaking function can be performed “more effectively by the legislative process than by a somewhat clumsy judicial fiat,” id., at 408, and that the Federal Constitution does not foreclose experimentation by the States in the development of such rules.
Second, in evaluating the admissibility of particular identification testimony it is sometimes difficult to put other evidence of guilt entirely to one side.* Mb. Justice Blackmun’s opinion for the Court carefully avoids this pitfall and correctly relies only on appropriate indicia of the reliability of the identification itself. Although I consider the factual question in this case extremely close, I am persuaded that the Court has resolved it properly.

In this case, for example, the fact that the defendant was a regular visitor to the apartment where the drug transaction occurred tends to confirm his guilt. In the Kirby case, where the conviction was for robbery, the fact that papers from the victim’s wallet were found in the possession of the defendant made it difficult to question the reliability of the identification. These facts should not, however, be considered to support the admissibility of eyewitness testimony when applying the criteria identified in Neil v. Biggers, 409 U. S. 188. Properly analyzed, however, such facts would be relevant to a question whether error, if any, in admitting identification testimony was harmless.