Court Opinion

ID: 9459581
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:24:26.033453+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:13.488490
License: Public Domain

*1199ROBB, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I cannot agree that the circumstances shown by the evidence compel the conclusion that there was “a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentifi-cation”.
The district judge who denied the motion to suppress found “that the manner in which the photographs were shown and in which the lineup was held are not so impermissibly suggestive as to deprive this defendant of due process.” (Motion to Suppress TR. 40). He concluded “that the evidence is a matter to be considered on the issue of credibility rather than on the question of admissibility.” (Motion to Suppress TR. 40). I agree, and would therefore affirm the conviction.
Without laboring my view of the evidence summarized by the majority I mention certain considerations and circumstances which the majority overlooks or does not emphasize:
1. Miss Samuels testified that she confronted the defendant face to face on two occasions, once when he came up to her at the cash register and again by the manager’s office. On each occasion he was only three or four feet away from her. The lighting by the cash register “was bright enough so you can see anybody in the building” and by the manager’s office there was “a real bright light.” (Trial TR. 87). Furthermore, she testified at the suppression hearing that she thought she had seen the defendant before, as a customer in the Hot Shoppe. (Motion to Suppress TR. 25).
2. The majority says that the district judge, although denying the motion to suppress, “expressed concern about the identification of Miss Samuels”. The concern expressed by the District Judge was about the response of Miss Samuels to the hypothetical question, whether she could have identified the defendant if she had seen him on the street on the day after the robbery. (Motion to Suppress TR. 37). I give little weight to such a hypothetical question and speculative answer. Otherwise Miss Samuels was at all times positive in her identification. (Grand Jury TR. 7, 9-10; Motion to Suppress TR. 13, 23; Trial TR. 84, 85).
3. The majority attaches great weight to the original descriptions of the robber given by Miss Samuels and Mr. Johnson, which descriptions are characterized as uncertain, vague and not very positive. Except for the item of height, however, these descriptions are not inconsistent with the defendant’s appearance. In any event a witness may retain a mental image of a man, but be unable to describe him precisely. As Miss Samuels testified, explaining why she identified the defendant in the lineup, “the man just looked like the man that robbed us and that is the best that I can do.” We should recognize also that at best the descriptions given by victims of crime are apt to be inaccurate; ordinarily a man confronted with a pistol does not think about the Bertillon measurements of his assailant. Thus Mr. Johnson told the grand jury “I could probably look at the gun and identify it better than I could the man.” (Grand Jury TR. 30).
The issue of the defendant’s identification was presented and argued to the jury under proper instructions. I would not retry the issue here, but would affirm the verdict and sentence.