Court Opinion

ID: 9535616
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:51:21.467736+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:17.420979
License: Public Domain

PIVARNIK, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent from the conclusions reached by the majority, that the errors discussed merit reversal of defendant’s conviction.
I agree with the majority that the composite drawing produced from the witness while she was in a hypnotic trance was inherently unreliable and should be exclud-. ed as having no probative value. The product of the hypnotic trance in this case, however, was a relatively insignificant part of the evidence and in view of the other evidence could not be said to have influenced the jury so strongly that it could not reasonably have been determined that the jury would have found the defendant guilty with or without that particular evidence. The majority finds, and I agree, that the in-court identification of the defendant had a factual basis independent of the hypnotic session.
The jury had before it the testimony of witness Miller that she was three or four feet from the defendant and the victim at the time of the murder and robbery, that the room was well lighted, that she was able to, and did, clearly see the defendant when he committed the crimes. She further testified she recognized him as a person she had seen in the premises several times before when he came to get change for the “pop” machine. The day after the robbery and killing, and five days before the hypnotic session, witness Miller picked defendant’s photograph from an array of photographs shown to her. The day after the hypnotic trance, she again picked the defendant’s picture from an array of ten photographs shown to her, and there is no showing that this was necessarily influenced by the hypnotic trance she had experienced the day before. She states that she recognized the defendant at the lineup but did not pick him out because of fear that he had seen her. Although this does put her credibility in question on that point, it is an understandable and acceptable attitude and, furthermore, is a question of credibility to be tested and determined by the trier of facts. There was, therefore, this evidence before the jury as to the identification of defendant.
I again agree with the majority in their appraisal of the photographs that were distributed to the jury with the cards stapled over the prejudicial feature as to this defendant. This was unnecessarily sloppy conduct by the prosecuting attorney and it should not have been permitted by the *973Court. In view of the direct evidence by witness Miller, however, I would not say that it was error meriting reversal of the conviction. Again, in view of the strong, direct eyewitness testimony of witness Miller, it can surely be said that this jury would have convicted the defendant even without the potentially prejudicial knowledge of a prior arrest and the composite drawing given to the police while under hypnosis.
I agree that in both instances the evidence should have been rejected in the form in which it was offered but in view of all the evidence in the case, I would find that any error committed in their admission was harmless error. I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.