State v. Connally

243 S.E.2d 788, 36 N.C. App. 43, 1978 N.C. App. LEXIS 2403
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedApril 18, 1978
DocketNo. 7717SC864
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 243 S.E.2d 788 (State v. Connally) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Connally, 243 S.E.2d 788, 36 N.C. App. 43, 1978 N.C. App. LEXIS 2403 (N.C. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

CLARK, Judge.

First, the defendant challenges the admissibility of the eyewitness identification testimony of (1) the prosecuting witness Barbara Harris, and (2) Brian Moody, who was called as a witness for the State in rebuttal after defendant offered alibi evidence.

(1) The Identification Testimony of Barbara Harris

The identification testimony of Ms. Harris was admitted on voir dire along with the testimony of Ms. Harris and Officers [46]*46Huskey and Lambert, both of the Reidsville Police Department, which, in summary, tended to show the following:

The lights in the store were bright; defendant was in the presence of Ms. Harris for about 20 minutes, and most of this time his face was two or three feet from hers. A week or so passed before the check was returned to the store by the bank with notice that it was forged. The matter was reported to the police, and Ms. Harris gave a description of the perpetrator. The police brought a group of several photographs to the store for inspection by Ms. Harris, but she did not find the photograph of the perpetrator among them. A week or so later (in early May) she went to court to view William Robinson, told officers Robinson was not the perpetrator, and she was asked to look at other photographs in an office. She did not find a photograph of the perpetrator among them, but as she was leaving she glanced down at a photograph on the desk, recognized it as the photograph of the perpetrator and so advised Officer Lambert. He testified that he did not recall a photographic identification by Ms. Harris. On 16 June Officer Lambert arrested defendant on information of William Robinson, an accomplice, and at the jail defendant was advised of his Miranda rights and he signed written waiver. On the following day Ms. Harris was requested to come to the police office. Defendant was told that the same rights he was told about the night before applied. Defendant said he understood. Defendant was asked if he minded if someone looked at him and he replied, “No, let anybody come, I didn’t do anything.” Defendant was not advised of his right to have counsel present for the “one-man lineup.” Ms. Harris was brought to an office where she identified defendant, who was the only black in the office.

The defendant offered no evidence on voir dire. The trial court found facts, including defendant’s consent to the “lineup,” and concluded that Ms. Harris’s courtroom identification of defendant was based on her observation of him in the store at the time of the crime and “not tainted by any out-of-court proceedings.”

The in-custody identification conducted at or after the initiation of adversary judicial criminal proceedings when defendant [47]*47was not warned of his right to have counsel present during the confrontation is in violation of the Sixth Amendment. United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed. 2d 1149 (1967); Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 18 L.Ed. 2d 1178 (1967); Kirby v. Illinois, 406 U.S. 682, 92 S.Ct. 1877, 32 L.Ed. 2d 411 (1972). Before such criminal proceedings have been initiated Due Process protects the accused against the introduction of evidence of, or evidence tainted by, unreliable pretrial identifications obtained through unnecessarily suggestive procedures. Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed. 2d 1199 (1967); Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed. 2d 1247 (1968).

The Wade and Gilbert cases held that an in-court identification following an uncounseled lineup was allowable only if the prosecution could clearly and convincingly demonstrate that it was not tainted by the constitutional violation. Since these decisions, North Carolina has directed that the trial court conduct a voir dire hearing as soon as the identity issue is raised, and if it is determined that the in-custody confrontation is in violation of constitutional rights, then the in-court identification is admissible only if the hearing judge finds that by clear and convincing evidence the State has established that the in-court identification is of independent origin and thus not tainted by the illegal pretrial identification procedure. State v. Wright, 274 N.C. 84, 161 S.E. 2d 581 (1968), cert. den. 396 U.S. 934, 90 S.Ct. 275, 24 L.Ed. 2d 232 (1969); State v. Williams, 274 N.C. 328, 163 S.E. 2d 353 (1968); State v. Stamey, 3 N.C. App. 200, 164 S.E. 2d 547 (1968), retrial, 6 N.C. App. 517, 170 S.E. 2d 497 (1969).

In Simmons v. United States, supra, a new rule was announced to deal with the admission of in-court identification testimony that the accused claimed had been fatally tainted by a previous suggestive confrontation, the court holding that due process was violated by in-court identification if the pretrial procedure had been “so impermissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification.” See State v. McKeithan, 293 N.C. 772, 239 S.E. 2d 254 (1977).

In the case sub judice the trial judge ordered a voir dire hearing, found facts, and concluded that the in-court identification was of independent origin and not tainted by the illegal in-[48]*48custody confrontation. We confess to some confusion from the voir dire testimony of Ms. Harris that, about a month after the crime in question, she saw a single photograph on a desk in the police station and observed to Officer Lambert that it was a photograph of the perpetrator (defendant). However, Officer Lambert testified that he did not recall such photographic identification by Ms. Harris. Trial evidence established that Officer Lambert arrested defendant about a month after Ms. Harris’s purported identification, the basis for the arrest being information furnished by co-perpetrator Robinson, not her identification. This somewhat bizarre twist does not negate her testimony relative to the excellent lighting conditions in the store, the perpetrator’s closeness to her for a period of about 20 minutes and other evidence which gives her eyewitness identification reliability and fully supports the conclusion of the trial court that her in-court identification was not tainted by the unconstitutional in-custody “show-up” confrontation.

Since the findings and conclusions of the trial court are supported by competent evidence, they are conclusive on appeal and must be upheld. State v. McKeithan, supra.

(2) The Identification Testimony of Brian Moody

The State’s witness Brian Moody testified that he saw defendant and Robinson together in his Bestway Store in Reidsville about 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, 10 April 1976. The State offered this testimony in rebuttal after defendant had offered alibi evidence tending to show that he was not in Reidsville or even in Caldwell County on that day. Defendant aptly objected to the identification question and moved for a voir dire.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Buckom
485 S.E.2d 319 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
243 S.E.2d 788, 36 N.C. App. 43, 1978 N.C. App. LEXIS 2403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-connally-ncctapp-1978.