Court Opinion

ID: 9568854
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:08:02.790763+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:10:17.333928
License: Public Domain

Justice PLEICONES
concurring in result and dissenting in part:
I agree with the majority that Mr. Frazier’s conviction should be reversed and remanded because the trial court erred in excluding the video tape expert’s testimony and erred in allowing the testimony of Mr. Sovereign. However, in my opinion, the trial court properly excluded Dr. Loftus’ testimony discussing a “Photo Lineup Study” conducted by Dr. Alliston Reid of Wofford College.
The proffered study reports the results of an experiment conducted by Dr. Reid in which sixty random participants viewed the photographic lineup shown to the Hobbses. The participants were asked to identify the individual who best matched the description “high forehead and large round eyes.”3 Forty-eight of the sixty participants selected appellant’s photograph from the line-up. The report concludes the photographic lineup was “strongly biased toward selection of Photo Number 1 [i.e., appellant’s photograph] ... [Photo Number 1] was a better match to the written description of the suspect than was any other photo.”
In State v. Whaley, 305 S.C. 138, 406 S.E.2d 369 (1991), we approved the admission, under certain circumstances, of eyewitness reliability testimony by expert witnesses. The Court stated, however, “that nothing in this opinion should be construed as allowing an expert to give his or her opinion of a particular witness’ identification.” 406 S.E.2d at 372.
The purpose of Dr. Reid’s study was to address the reliability of the photographic lineup presented to the Hobbses. *169Clearly, Dr. Loftus’ testimony about the results of the study was an attempt to establish that the Hobbses’ identification of appellant was unreliable. The nature of this testimony was specifically precluded in State v. Whaley, 406 S.E.2d at 372.
The trial judge properly excluded Dr. Loftus’. testimony concerning the study of the photographic lineup. The participants in Dr. Reid’s study were, in effect, instructed to select the photograph of the individual which most closely matched the description “large, round eyes” and “high forehead.” .The Hobbses, on the other hand, were asked if one of the six photographs in the lineup was the individual they had seen on June 9. In addition to their given description of the individual as having large, round eyes and a high forehead, the Hobbses also had general perceptions of the individual they saw at the Carolina Winds Motel which were not specifically articulated. Accordingly, Dr. Reid’s finding of a bias in the photographic lineup did not fairly challenge the reliability of the Hobbses’ identification of appellant in the lineup. See Rule 404, SCRE (evidence is relevant if it tends to make the existence of any fact at issue more or less probable).
For the above reasons, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by refusing to allow Dr. Loftus to testify about Dr. Reid’s study.
BURNETT, J., concurs.

. The Hobbses initially described the man they saw on June 9th as having large, round eyes and a high forehead.