Commonwealth v. Boone

55 Va. Cir. 201, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 270
CourtNorfolk County Circuit Court
DecidedApril 27, 2001
DocketCase No. CR 00003395
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Va. Cir. 201 (Commonwealth v. Boone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Norfolk County Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Boone, 55 Va. Cir. 201, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 270 (Va. Super. Ct. 2001).

Opinion

By Judge Lydia Calvert Taylor

This matter came before the Court for a bench trial on charges of robbeiy, abduction, attempted capital murder of a police officer, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The Defendant pleaded not guilty, waived a jury, and was tried by the undersigned. The following constitute the factual findings by this Court.

[202]*202 Factual Background

On June 22, 1999, Yolanda Holtz, the store manager, and King S. Williams, HI, an employee, were working in the Blockbuster Video store on Tidewater Drive in Norfolk. While in the front of the store, near the three cash registers, they were confronted by a black male, approximately 5*11” in height; who pulled a handgun from inside his pants and pointed it at Williams. He told Holtz and Williams to open the registers; when Williams said he was unable to open his, Holtz opened it for him, and Williams emptied the register, turning the money over to Holtz, who then turned it over to the gunman. At the gunman’s instructions, Holtz then emptied the other two cash registers, placed the money in a white and blue plastic Blockbuster bag, and gave the bag to the gunman.

After he had the money, the gunman determined no one was in “the back,” so he had the employees walk to the back office, Holtz in front, Williams behind her, and the gunman behind Williams, holding the gun to Williams’s back. When the three entered the office, the gunman told Holtz to open the safe, and Williams to pull the telephone out of tire wall, and then sit down. Holtz turned Ihe contents of the safe over to the gunman after placing them inside the plastic Blockbuster bag. After Holtz gave the gunman the security camera videotape upon his demand, the gunman thanked Holtz and Williams, told them to have a nice day, and then left the store.

Several police officers, notified of the robbery, responded to the scene, among them Detective Ransom Wensel, who spoke to Holtz and Williams about the incident. The two described the gunman as a black male, approximately 25 to 30 years old, 5*9” to 5’10” tall, dark complexioned, possibly having a mustache, armed with a silver handgun, and wearing a gray shirt, long dark pants, blue and white tennis shoes, and a light blue baseball cap with the letters NC on the front of the cap. Officer R. E. Williams — on duty, in uniform, in a marked unit — was in the same shopping center as the Blockbuster store, although about one quarter mile away, when he received a radio message describing the robbery. He recalls the description as that of a black male, in a dark gray sweatshirt, dark-colored shorts, and light blue baseball cap — perhaps a North Carolina Tarheel cap — possibly riding a bicycle. As soon as he heard the description, Officer Williams saw a black male on a bicycle approaching from the direction of the Blockbuster; when the man got within fifty yards of him, Officer Williams could see that the man matched the description of the robbery suspect.

Officer Williams followed the suspect onto Stanley Street, drove to within ten to fifteen feet of him, and rolled down his window to get him to stop. In [203]*203response, the suspect jumped off the bicycle, pulled out a chrome handgun, fully extended his arm, and fired directly at the windshield of the police car— one bullet went through the windshield and lodged in the dashboard — and then fired two additional shots. Officer Williams testified he observed the suspect, die gun still in his right hand, his arm still fully extended, walking toward the center of the police car, with the officer still inside. The officer fired several rounds through his windshield toward the suspect, who ran and then hit the ground as a black videotape went up in to the air and fell to the ground. Forensic investigation revealed that three shots came from the outside of the police car: one went through the front windshield; another entered the hood; a third entered die top part of the grill on the driver’s side front of the car.

The day after the incidents, the two Blockbuster employees separately identified the Defendant in photo lineups as the gunman who robbed them. Officer Williams, however, was unable to get a good look at the face of the suspect who shot at him in the police car.

On June 24,2000, the Defendant was arrested. After he was advised of his legal rights, he made an oral and a written statement to Officer Wensel in which he admitted that he robbed the Blockbuster store employees, fled, and then got into a shootout with a police officer.

Discussion

Out-of-Court Identifications

The Defendant asserts that die out-of-court identifications of him by Holtz and Williams were unconstitutional because, after each witness independently selected the Defendant’s photograph from a photo array, the police investigator told them that they had selected the same person and the right man. Thus, he claims, any subsequent in-court identifications by these witnesses were impermissibly tainted by that earlier suggestion.

Evidence of an out-of-court identification “will be admitted if either (a) the identification procedure was not unduly suggestive, or (b) the procedure was unduly suggestive, but the identification is so reliable, in accordance with the factors noted in Biggers and Brathwaite, that there is no substantial likelihood of misidentification.” Hill v. Commonwealth, 2 Va. App. 683, 693, 347 S.E.2d 913, 918 (1986). Even if evidence of an out-of-court identification cannot be admitted, however, an in-court identification may still be permissible if the origin of the identification is independent of the inadmissible out-of-court identification process. See Hill, 2 Va. App. at 693, [204]*204347 S.E.2d at 918. In establishing the reliability of a particular identification, the court must consider:

the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness’ degree of attention, the accuracy of the witness’ prior description of the criminal, the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at die confrontation, and die length of time between the crime and die confrontation.

Townes v. Commonwealth, 234 Va. 307, 331, 362 S.E.2d 650, 663 (1987) (emphasis added) (quoting Biggers, 409 U.S. at 199, cert. denied, 485 U.S. 971 (1988)); Delong v. Commonwealth, 234 Va. 357, 367, 362 S.E.2d 669, 674 (1987), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 929 (1988). The United States Supreme Court in Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98 (1977), added that the Biggers factors must be balanced “against the corrupting effect of the suggestive identification itself.” Id. at 114. The reliability of the identifications of Defendant here will be addressed through an application of the Neil v. Biggers factors to the specific facts of this case.

Application of Neil v. Biggers Factors

The Court will first apply the five Neil v. Biggers factors to the photo identifications. First, both witnesses had ample opportunity

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Related

Manson v. Brathwaite
432 U.S. 98 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Crawley v. Commonwealth
512 S.E.2d 169 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1999)
Bell v. Commonwealth
468 S.E.2d 114 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1996)
Hill v. Commonwealth
347 S.E.2d 913 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1986)
Jordan v. Commonwealth
347 S.E.2d 152 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1986)
Coleman v. Commonwealth
307 S.E.2d 864 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1983)
Martin v. Commonwealth
414 S.E.2d 401 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1992)
Delong v. Commonwealth
362 S.E.2d 669 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1987)
Wynn v. Commonwealth
362 S.E.2d 193 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1987)
Townes v. Commonwealth
362 S.E.2d 650 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1987)
Brown v. Commonwealth
337 S.E.2d 711 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1985)
Bell v. Commonwealth
399 S.E.2d 450 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1991)
Sullivan v. Commonwealth
433 S.E.2d 508 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1993)
Coram v. Commonwealth
352 S.E.2d 532 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1987)
Hoke v. Commonwealth
377 S.E.2d 595 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1989)
Mawyer v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co.
377 S.E.2d 401 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1989)
Clodfelter v. Commonwealth
238 S.E.2d 820 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
55 Va. Cir. 201, 2001 Va. Cir. LEXIS 270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-boone-vaccnorfolk-2001.