Criminal Law Topics

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Thursday, February 23, 2012

It was him!!!! Identification of a suspect.

It was him!! Witnesses are often shown photo line-ups (or locally referred to as 6-packs) so they may attempt an identification of a perpetrator following a crime. The multiple photos with similiar characteristics is designed to provide a reliable identification consistent with an accused's due process. However, such carefully presented picture identifications do not always occur.

The US Supreme Court decided a case last month where police went into a witness's apartment to ask her who she saw committing a crime. She looked out her window, saw a man and pointed at him claiming he was the one. Based on her identification, he was arrested and convicted. The defendant argued that the court should have held a hearing before trial so he could argue that it was unreliable and that the identification should be suppressed (thrown out).

Legally, the Court held that the "Due Process Clause does not require a preliminary judicial inquiry into the reliability of an eyewitness identification when the identification was not procured under unnecessarily suggestive circumstances arranged by law enforcement".
Perry V. New Hampshire.

In other words, there may not always be the fairest (or most credible) identification of the suspect, but if police were not attempting to wrongfully influence the witness, than there is no need for the courts to debate the identification before trial, it will be up to the jury during trial to give it the credibility they want.

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