United States v. Gaines

987 F. Supp. 1437, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16909, 1997 WL 784556
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Gaines. Read the opinion of the Court — 979 F. Supp. 1429
District Court, S.D. Florida·Decided September 8, 1997·No. No. 96-6159-CR-GOLD·Published

Opinion

ORDER ON DEFENDANTS GAINES’ AND LIDDELL’S MOTIONS TO SUPPRESS PHOTO IDENTIFICATIONS

GOLD, District Judge.

Defendant Liddell moves to suppress the photo identification and the in-court identification made by both Kenneth Hopkins and Prince Davis of him as the perpetrator of the robbery on August 30, 1996, at the Lighthouse Point McDonalds. Likewise, Defendant Gaines has moved to suppress the photo lineup which included Defendant Gaines and has further sought to suppress the in-court identification of him by Kenneth Hopkins.

Neither Hopkins nor Davis identified Gaines from the photo line-up. Moreover, Davis made no in-court identification of Gaines. Therefore, the essence of Gaines’ motion is to suppress the in-court identification by Hopkins, since the Government does not seek to introduce any photo line-up as against Gaines.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The Lighthouse Point robbery is the basis for the charges contained in Counts 12 and 13-of the Superseding Indictment. The testimony relative to the robbery by Hopkins and Davis is that on August 30, 1996, two black males entered the McDonalds at approximately 10:05 p.m. The subject subsequently identified as Liddell approached witness Hopkins at the service counter, pointed a gun to ■ Hopkins’ head, and ordered Hopkins to open the safe. Hopkins testified that Liddell pulled down his bandanna while he was opening the safe. He said he clearly saw Liddell, and, at the suppression hearing, identified him as one of the perpetrators of the robbery. He also testified that Defendant Gaines had peeled off his ski mask, looked around and quickly replaced it. He testified that he was able to see “a glimpse” of Gaines’ face from his forehead down. Although Hopkins conceded he was unable to identify Gaines from the photo line-up, he was positive about his'in-court identification.

Immediately after the robbery, witness Hopkins assisted the police in drawing composite sketches of the robbers, one of whom was subsequently identified as Liddell. Subsequently, both Hopkins and Davis were shown a photo line up. The photo line-up was contained inside a photo line-up folder. The folder contained cutouts, through which each of the six photographs appeared, at the time it was shown to each witness. Witness Hopkins viewed the photo line-up on September 6, 1996, and selected the photograph of Defendant Liddell as one of the persons who had robbed the McDonalds. Hopkins initialed and dated this photograph. No other initials were on the photo lineup at that time.

One week later, on September 13, 1996, witness Davis was shown the same photo line-up. The photo line-up was placed in the photo line-up folder in such a way that the initials of witness Hopkins were not visible to witness Davis at the time he viewed the lineup. Witness Davis selected the photograph of Defendant Liddell as one of the robbers, and dated and initialed this photo. He did so without hesitation, although he only was able to observe Defendant Liddells eyes and head. He testified that his in-court identification was based on his recollection of the events of the robbery, not from seeing Lid-dell’s photo with both sets of initials.

Subsequently, on September 17,1996, each witness independently provided a tape-re[1439]*1439corded interview concerning the robbery and his prior identification. During each interview, the witness was shown the photo lineup and was able to observe the initials of the other witness. The Government does not seek to introduce the tape-recorded interviews, conceding that the police work on that date was less than desirable.

After witness Hopkins was shown the photo line-up, which bore both his and Davis’ initials, Detective Nestor told Hopkins that he had picked one of the suspects. He also was told that the other suspect (besides Lid-dell) was one of the eighteen persons included in the photo line-up. However, Hopkins testified that Gaines was not pointed out to him from the photo line-up as the suspect.

II. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

In a long line, of cases, the United States Supreme Court has held that the admissibility of eyewitness identification testimony is governed by a totality of the circumstances test. That is, both in-court and out-of-court identifications are admissible, even where the procedures used were suggestive, unless the defendant can establish, based on the totality of the circumstances, that the identification is unreliable. The circumstances which must be considered under this test are the opportunity to view the perpetrator at the time of the crime, the degree of attention, the accuracy of a prior description, the level of certainty and the elapsed time. Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977); Neil v.. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972); Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968).

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the former Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, have applied these guidelines in numerous cases. For example, in Johnson v. Wainwright, 523 F.2d 1253, 1255 n. 2 (5th Cir.1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 961, 96 S.Ct. 1745, 48 L.Ed.2d 207 (1976), the Court held that the simultaneous identification of the suspect by two or more witnesses in the presence of each other was not so impermis-sibly suggestive that any subsequent in-court identifications had to be per se excluded. Accord Rudd v. Florida, 477 F.2d 805 (5th Cir.1973). The court has reached the same result in a variety of circumstances, all of .which contained procedures far more suggestive than those utilized in the ease at bar. See, e.g., Dobbs v. Kemp, 790 F.2d 1499, 1505-06 (11th Cir.1986) (in-court identification testimony rehable despite impermissibly suggestive photo line-ups, where one witness was shown four to five pictures, all of the defendant, and second witness was shown 12 pictures, four of which were of defendant and two of which were persons of a different race), modified on other grounds, 809 F.2d 750 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1059, 107 S.Ct. 2203, 95 L.Ed.2d 858 (1987); United States v. Beard, 775 F.2d 1577, 1578-80 (11th Cir.1985) (admission of pre-trial photographic line-up and in-court identification testimony proper where on the first occasion that the witness was shown a photo line-up, she identified the robber as one of two photos in the line-up (one of which was defendant) and FBI agent said, “You’re close,” and at second photo line-up, witness identified defendant, and at trial witness identified defendant), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1030, 106 S.Ct. 1235, 89 L.Ed.2d 343 (1986); United States v. Cannington,

United States v. Gaines, 987 F. Supp. 1437, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16909, 1997 WL 784556 (S.D. Fla. 1997).

987 F. Supp. 1437 (United States v. Gaines) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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