United States v. Quashie

162 F. Supp. 3d 135, 2016 WL 638052
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 17, 2016
Docket14-CR-376 (BMC)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 162 F. Supp. 3d 135 (United States v. Quashie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Quashie, 162 F. Supp. 3d 135, 2016 WL 638052 (E.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

AMENDED ORDER1

BRIAN M. COGAN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.

Defendant’s pending motions are disposed of as follows:

Photo Array

1. Defendant moves to suppress his identification from a photo array by one of the victims of his crime. He contends that under the totality of the circumstances, both the photo array and line-up were unduly suggestive and improper, and therefore should be suppressed.

2. I held an evidentiary hearing in this matter. At this hearing, the Government called two witnesses, Detective Brockman, and Mr. Salazar, a victim of the July 10, 2009, robbery.

3. Detective Brockman created and conducted the lineup in which Mr. Salazar identified defendant. Det. Brockman testified that he received an alert about [139]*139the robbery which contained defendant’s NYSID number. He testified that he believed the NYSID number came from information obtained from defendant’s cellphone which was found at the scene of the crime. The NYSID allowed Det. Brockman to identify defendant and locate a photo of defendant from a prior arrest.

4. Detective Brockman used a computer program to identify other individuals who bore similar characteristics to defendant, including age, race, and certain facial features. Det. Brockman then selected five other photographs to include in the photo array. After compiling the array, Det. Brockman went to the victim’s residence to have him view it.

5. Detective Brockman testified that when he first showed the victim, Mr. Salazar, the photo array, Mr. Salazar became very upset and nervous. Mr. Salazar stared down at the array. The Detective then asked Mr. Salazar if he recognized anyone from the photographs. Mr. Salazar responded by saying the word, “nothing.” Det. Brockman turned the photo array over and told Mr. Salazar to calm down and not be frightened.

6. Detective Brockman decided to have Mr. Salazar view the photos one by one. He used his hands to cover up five photographs at a time and asked Mr. Salazar to focus on each single photo as Det. Brock-man moved his hands to expose it.

7. Mr. Salazar responded “no” to photos 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. However, he responded “nothing” to photo number 4 and his body language indicated he was upset. Photo number 4 was of defendant. Detective Brockman followed up with Mr. Salazar about photo 4 by asking why photo 4 was a “nothing” but the other photos were “no’s”. Mr. Salazar identified defendant as an individual he had seen through the peephole of his apartment door when defendant tried to recover his cellphone which had been left behind during the robbery.

8. After Mr. Salazar identified defendant from the photo array, Det. Brockman had Mr. Salazar initial it.

9. Mr. Salazar also testified. He explained that on the evening of July 10, 2009, he was at home with a friend. His doorbell rang and he opened the door because he thought the police were at his door. After entering his apartment, the individuals threatened him with a gun, zip tied him, and took cash and other valuables from his apartment.

10. Mr. Salazar testified that Detective Brockman returned the following day to administer a photo array. He was presented with three sheets of photographs, each with several photographs on it. Mr. Salazar testified that Det. Brockman told him to focus on the eyes of each individual in the photographs. He did not remember many details regarding the photo array. However, he testified that he did not feel •that Det. Brockman had suggested any particular photograph to him.

11. Defendant bears a high burden of proving that an identification should be suppressed. The question for the Court is whether such procedures were “unnecessarily suggestive” and whether there is a “very substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification.” United States v. Maldonado-Rivera, 922 F.2d 934, 973 (2d Cir.1990). If the court finds that the initial procedure was unduly suggestive, it must then determine whether the identification testimony is “independently reliable,” and therefore admissible. Id. Only in extraordinary cases should identification evidence be withheld from a jury. See United States v. Jones, 689 F.3d 12 (1st Cir.2012). The “presence of some element of untrustworthiness goes only to the [140]*140identifications’ weight, not to its admissibility.” Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 116, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977).

12. For a photo array to be unduly suggestive, the Court must determine whether “the picture of the accused ... so stood out from all the other photographs as to suggest to an identifying witness that [that person] was more likely to be the culprit.’ ” United States v. Jakobetz, 955 F.2d 786, 803 (2d Cir.1992) (quoting Jarrett v. Headley, 802 F.2d 34, 41 (2d Cir. 1986) (brackets in original)). ' The array in this case was not unduly suggestive. The photographs are not so different as to suggest defendant over any other individual.

13. Defendant has objected to the pro-' cess whereby Detective Brockman showed Mr. Salazar the photographs in the array one at a time. This is not impermissibly suggestive. “There is nothing inherently suggestive about a sequential display of a group of photographs.” United States v. Hall, 14 Cr. 105, 2014 WL 2464943, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. May 13; 2014).

14. Detective Brockman asked Mr. Salazar follow-up questions and told him not to be afraid; his actions were not unduly suggestive. His acted in a professional manner to comfort a frightened witness and follow up on his statements, not to suggest a particular defendant. The procedure in the array did not lead to the likelihood of misidentification.

15. Indeed, the law is clear that although it may not reflect best police practices, it is not unduly suggestive for a police officer conducting a lineup to let the witness know that the person suspected of the crime is in fact in the lineup. As the Second Circuit held in Jenkins v. City of New York, 478 F.3d 76, 92 (2d Cir.2007), “[k]nowledge by a complainant that the suspect is in a lineup does not, of itself, taint the lineup.” ((quoting People v. Ferrer, 205 A.D.2d 305, 613 N.Y.S.2d 865 (1st Dep’t 1994)). If that advice to a witness is not unduly suggestive, then a mere reassurance to calm a witness is not either.

16. Because I have determined that the photo array was not unduly suggestive, I do not need to determine whether Mr. Salazar’s identification testimony is “independently reliable.” See Perry v. New Hampshire, - U.S.-, 132 S.Ct. 716, 181 L.Ed.2d 694 (2012).

17. Defendant’s motion [32] to suppress the photo array identification is DENIED.

Cellphone Search

18. During the course of the robbery that occurred on July 10, 2009, one of the robbers dropped a cellphone in the apartment where the robbery occurred. A robber attempted to recover the cellphone but was unable to reenter the apartment.

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Bluebook (online)
162 F. Supp. 3d 135, 2016 WL 638052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-quashie-nyed-2016.