State v. Searcy

484 P.2d 417, 4 Wash. App. 860, 1971 Wash. App. LEXIS 1454
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 26, 1971
Docket113-41226-3
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 484 P.2d 417 (State v. Searcy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Searcy, 484 P.2d 417, 4 Wash. App. 860, 1971 Wash. App. LEXIS 1454 (Wash. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

Evans, J.

Defendant Searcy, who was tried jointly with Frank James Washington, appeals separately from a conviction of robbery, first-degree assault and larceny. The facts concerning the offenses charged are set forth in State v. Washington, 4 Wn. App. 856, 484 P.2d 415 (1971), and need not be set forth herein.

The prime issue on this appeal is whether the in-court identification of defendant Searcy was tainted by procedures which violated the constitutional rights afforded him *861 by the fifth, sixth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution.

The limited facts pertinent to the issue raised by defendant Searcy are that a Mr. Peterson, manager of the Lucky Dollar store in Pasco, was shot while being robbed. After he was shot Mr. Peterson was taken to a hospital. The attending doctors and nurses 'all testified that he was in a state of shock, his lungs were filling with blood and he was experiencing extreme difficulty breathing. Because of his critical condition the investigating police officers considered it necessary to immediately attempt to obtain from Mr. Peterson the identity of his assailant. From 10 photographs shown him by a police officer shortly after being admitted to the hospital Mr. Peterson identified defendant Searcy as the man who robbed and shot him. Searcy was arrested a few hours later. About 3 months prior to trial Mr. Peterson was again shown nine photographs by another police officer. He again identified Searcy. Peterson had known Searcy by sight but not by name for 4 or 5 years prior to the robbery, and at the trial he remained adamant in his identification of Searcy, without regard to any prior photographic identification.

Defendant first contends the trial court erred in allowing Mr. Peterson to give identification testimony defendant claims was tainted by the prior out-of-court photographic identifications made in violation of his rights under the Sixth Amendment. He bases this contention upon United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1149, 87 S. Ct. 1926 (1967). In that case the court held an accused is entitled to have defense counsel present at a lineup since a lineup is a critical stage of a criminal proceeding. The state admits counsel was not present on either occasion when Mr. Peterson was shown the photographs, and defendant in essence argues that the holding in Wade, while involving lineups, should be extended to cases involving 'an out-of-court identification based on photographs. This we decline to do.

The first time Mr. Peterson was shown the photographs *862 defendant was not under arrest and it does not appear from the record that the police had narrowed their investigation to the defendant. In such a situation this court has 'already held that Wade does not apply:

[T]he defendant contends that the identification testimony should have been suppressed because he was not represented by counsel at the photographic identification procedure. We know of no authority, statutory or constitutional, that requires the presence of an attorney for any potential defendant while his picture, with others, is being displayed to victims or witnesses to a crime. We are unwilling to impose any such requirement.

State v. Grays, 1 Wn. App. 422, 424, 463 P.2d 182 (1969).

However, the second time Mr. Peterson was shown photographs the defendant was under arrest and the criminal proceeding had progressed to the accusatorial stage. If the rationale in Wade is to apply to a photographic identification as well as a lineup, it would necessarily apply to this out-of-court photographic identification. However, as stated above, we decline to extend this doctrine. We are not alone in this determination:

After the identification testimony of two witnesses had been received at the trial pertaining to count number two, counsel for the defendant moved to strike such testimony because of the out of court identification of photographs of the defendant in the absence of counsel. This motion to strike was denied. In support of this contention here appellant relies on United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S. Ct. 1926, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1149 (1967) and Gregory v. United States, 125 U.S.App. D.C. 140, 369 F.2d 185 (1966). Those cases concern the so-called lineup identification and are factually different from this case. What is complained of here is nothing more than preparation for trial by the Government. No lineup identification is involved and there was no form of confrontation of the accused. The trial judge was correct in refusing to extend the doctrine of Gregory and Wade and in denying the motion to strike the questioned evidence.

McGee v. United States, 402 F.2d 434, 436 (10th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 908, 89 S. Ct. 1020 (1969).

The rationale of the court’s decision is more fully set *863 forth in United States v. Clark, 289 F. Supp. 610, 620 (E.D. Pa. 1968):

The defendant next contends that he was entitled to have had counsel present at the time at which the police displayed the six photographs, including his photograph, to the five employees from the Post Office. He argues that conducting this procedure in the absence of counsel was improper and that, therefore, Wade and Gilbert require the suppression of all identification testimony at trial by those witnesses to whom such photographs were shown.

In establishing a right to counsel at certain types of pre-trial confrontations the Supreme Court employed expansive language in both Wade and Gilbert. The Court, however, carefully distinguished pre-trial stages such as lineups and showups from other stages “. . . such as systematized or scientific analyzing of the accused’s fingerprints, blood sample, clothing, hair, and the like.”, See, Wade, supra, 388 U.S. at p. 227, 87 S.Ct. at p. 1932. The Court explained the distinction in this manner:

“We think there are differences which preclude such stages being characterized as critical stages at which the accused has the right to the presence of his counsel. Knowledge of the techniques of science and technology is sufficiently available, and the variables in techniques few enough, that the accused has the opportunity for a meaningful confrontation of the Government’s case at trial through the ordinary processes of cross-examination of the Government’s expert witnesses and the presentation of the evidence of his own experts.

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Related

State v. Nettles
500 P.2d 752 (Washington Supreme Court, 1972)
United States v. Charles J. Ash, Jr.
461 F.2d 92 (D.C. Circuit, 1972)
Commonwealth v. Ross
282 N.E.2d 70 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1972)
State v. Nettles
492 P.2d 567 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1971)
Crenshaw v. State
283 A.2d 423 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1971)
United States ex rel. Reed v. Anderson
329 F. Supp. 15 (D. Delaware, 1971)
State v. Washington
484 P.2d 415 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
484 P.2d 417, 4 Wash. App. 860, 1971 Wash. App. LEXIS 1454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-searcy-washctapp-1971.