Court Opinion

ID: 9745059
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:31:25.402706+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:55.306549
License: Public Domain

O’Connor, J.
(dissenting). The court does not decide whether admission in evidence of a composite drawing of the assailant was error, and concludes that, in any event, the defendant was not prejudiced. I believe that admission of the composite drawing was harmful error, requiring reversal.
Extrajudicial statements, including statements identifying a photograph as that of an assailant, may be admitted to impeach a witness. Commonwealth v. Swenson, 368 Mass. 268, 274 (1975). In addition, extrajudicial statements of a witness which are consistent with the witness’s testimony may be admitted to rehabilitate the witness after he has been impeached by a claim of recent fabrication. Commonwealth v. Lacy, 371 Mass. 363, 370-371 (1975). Such statements are not inadmissible as hearsay because they are not offered to prove the truth of the matters stated. Commonwealth v. Repoza, 382 Mass. 119, 129 (1980).
*641This court has also held in numerous cases that a witness may testify to an extrajudicial identification, made by him, to prove the defendant’s guilt. See Commonwealth v. Vitello, 376 Mass. 426, 458-459 (1978); Commonwealth v. Fitzgerald, 376 Mass. 402, 407-410 (1978); Commonwealth v. Torres, 367 Mass. 737, 738-739 (1975); Commonwealth v. Redmond, 357 Mass. 333, 341 (1970); Commonwealth v. Nassar, 351 Mass. 37, 42 (1966); Commonwealth v. Locke, 335 Mass. 106, 112 (1956). In these cases, the testimony was admissible “to corroborate the identification in court.” Id. Commonwealth v. Repoza, supra. Commonwealth v. Redmond, supra at 340. This corroboration of the in-court identification is further evidence, in addition to the in-court identification, of the defendant’s guilt. It is as probative of guilt as is the in-court identification. See Commonwealth v. Torres, supra; Commonwealth v. Fitzgerald, supra; Commonwealth v. Vitello, supra (holding that where constitutionally permissible, full probative value is to be given to an extrajudicial identification, even if the witness who identified the defendant outside of court failed to do so in court). The evidence is admitted to prove the truth of the matter asserted outside of court, and is, therefore, hearsay. It is admitted despite the hearsay rule and as an exception to it.
Commonwealth v. Torres, supra, involved voice identification. The other cases cited above involved in-person or photographic identification. A composite drawing, on the other hand, “represent[s] the effort of a trained police artist to transform a witness’s oral description into pictorial form.” Commonwealth v. Williams, 378 Mass. 217, 230 (1979). At best, it is “a recording in graphic form of statements made by [the witness].” Commonwealth v. McKenna, 355 Mass. 313, 327 (1969). This case presents the question whether such a “recording in graphic form,” id., should be admissible hearsay as is testimony of out-of-court photographic and in-person identifications, to corroborate an in-court identification or otherwise prove the guilt of the defendant. In Commonwealth v. McKenna, supra, we held such evidence inadmissible for that purpose. The holding of McKenna was sound and should not now be overruled.
*642The hearsay rule exists not only to protect a defendant’s constitutional right to cross-examine witnesses against him, but also to exclude evidence that is, compared to nonhear-say evidence, likely to be unreliable. The rule is designed to exclude statements not made subject to cross-examination, not made under the solemnity of an oath, and not uttered before the scrutiny of a jury. See McCormick, Evidence § 245 (2d ed. 1972). See also Commonwealth v. Trefethen, 157 Mass. 180, 185 (1892); Warren v. Nichols, 6 Met. 261, 264 (1843). In-person or photographic identifications are admissible as substantive evidence despite hearsay concerns because the out-of-court identification is “regarded as having equal or greater testimonial value than one made in court.” Commonwealth v. Torres, supra at 739. This is so because the circumstances of the earlier identification often are less suggestive than the circumstances of the in-court identification and because the out-of-court identification occurs closer to the time of the offense. Id. See Commonwealth v. Locke, supra at 112. In other words, even considering the hearsay concerns, on balance the hearsay out-of-court identification is likely to be more reliable than the nonhearsay in-court identification.
An extrajudicial description, reduced to a composite drawing, presents a different case from an extrajudicial photographic or in-person identification. A composite drawing is the result of a witness’s attempt to match his mental image of the offender with various combinations of transparent overlays. The process is inherently susceptible to subtle and even unconscious suggestiveness by the police artist. The witness may be inarticulate or have only an ill-defined image of the offender. Translating a mental image to a composite drawing provides opportunities for communication failure, error in reproduction, and extraneous influence that are not present when a witness can compare his mental image directly with either a photographic image or a person.
Composite drawings are sufficiently less reliable than photographs that it cannot be said that such extrajudicial *643descriptions are, like photographic identifications, more reliable than an in-court identification. Therefore, composite drawings should be governed by the hearsay rule, and should only be admissible for purposes of impeachment or rehabilitation. Here, the composite drawing was not offered, nor was it admissible, to impeach or rehabilitate the identification witness. Its admission was error.
I cannot conclude that the error was harmless. Identification of the defendant was the sole issue at trial. Blaney was identified by an in-court description, by the composite, by a photograph selected from an array of photographs, and by being pointed out at trial. Each of the pieces of evidence was supplied by a single witness, Manzo. The jury could find that Manzo saw the defendant on up to four occasions, but only briefly, and while Manzo was excited. This court has recognized that identification testimony in such circumstances deserves careful juror scrutiny. See Commonwealth v. Rodriguez, 378 Mass. 296, 302, 310-311 (1979).
The in-court identification testimony followed the crime by over ten months. The reliability of this testimony was diminished by the inherent suggestiveness of the courtroom setting and by the passage of time. See Commonwealth v. Torres, supra; Commonwealth v. Locke, supra. The photographic identification was made approximately one month after the crime. The composite drawing, however, was made within approximately three hours after its occurrence. The jury could have considered the composite drawing as probative of the defendant’s guilt. The evidence that Blaney was the assailant was weak. It is impossible for this court to know that the drawing had no bearing on the verdict. In such circumstances, any doubt ought to be resolved in favor of the defendant. Commonwealth v. Welcome, 348 Mass. 68, 70 (1964). Commonwealth v. Stone, 321 Mass. 471 (1947).
I would reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial.