Courts routinely face cases where they have to apply Manson. Normally, the court runs through the Manson factors without much thought, and some of the decisions can be quite appalling, as you’ll see. But, let’s start with the best of the very rare good cases applying Manson, counting down from #5.
Number 5
Actually, I’ve included two good cases in the number 5 slot. Both have good language, but share the characteristic that the decisions took no judicial courage. One dealt with an obviously crappy ID procedure in Poland (that probably would have been upheld in 99% of courts if done in the U.S.), and the other involved a post-exoneration civil suit, where the court knew that the wrongfully convicted man had been misidentified.
In re Mazur, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2122401 (N.D.Ill. July 20, 2007).
Extradition case in which US court considered ID evidence introduced by DOJ on behalf of the Polish government. The Court used great language in eviscerating the terrible line up procedure. The defendant was forced to wear a red jacket and was surrounded by men with “little resemblance” to defendant who all wore dark, subdued colors. The Court observed that “They may as well have made him wear a target on his chest or a sign over his head saying ‘pick me,’” “Indeed, the government’s reliance on this identification is shocking and offensive, particularly in light of the recent revelation that the red jacket was foisted upon him by the Polish authorities.” While the opinion is great, one can’t shake the suspicion that the fact that the ID happened in Poland influenced the Court (see, e.g., U.S. ex rel. Hendricks v. Washington, 1997 WL 43487 (N.D.Ill.,1997) (finding show up ID reliable)—the Court’s claim that the Polish “identification would never pass muster in this country” is rather suspect. Every day in the U.S. police use the even more suggestive one-on-one show up procedure with near impunity from courts.
Bibbins v. City of Baton Rouge, 489 F.Supp.2d 562 (M.D.La. May 11, 2007).
This is a civil case involving Innocence Project exoneree Gene Bibbins, raised a 1983 claim against the city and officers. The faulty ID procedure was a show up, before which cops allowed witness to view robbery proceeds, thereby suggesting that the person in custody was almost certainly the culprit. Court weighed Manson factors, and ultimately found that it could not as a matter of law say that there had not been a substantial likelihood of misidentification. Of course, it seems improbable that the Court would have used this same language in the initial case (keep reading for some terrible La. Cases). Here, due to DNA exoneration, we know the ID was mistaken even though the witness continues to believe that the defendant is culprit.
The Court’s discussion of two factors in particular were good and against the norm. First, the Court found opportunity to view “neutral” because the rapist was unmasked, but in dark room at night (normally this would be a huge strike against a defendant). Most importantly, on the “certainty” Manson factor, though witness was certain, the Court stated that there was a factual dispute about why she was certain, as a result of Dr. Gary Wells’ testimony about the effects of suggestive ID procedures on “certainty” (and, of course, because she was, in fact, mistaken).
In all, some good language in this case, but it would have taken a particularly callous court to find against an exoneree on summary judgment on the basis that as a matter of law there was not a substantial likelihood of misidentification (again, when in fact there had been a misidentification).
Number 4
State v. Sundberg, 2007 WL 4239205 (Minn. App. 2007) (unpublished opinion)
The Court affirmed the trial court’s suppression of the show-up identification which led to dismissal. First, the Court found the show-up unnecessarily suggestive, emphasizing that the police told the witness that they had “caught” the defendant and that he was “currently being detained.” The Court also found that the witness did not have an independently reliable basis for the ID. While the witness saw the perpetrators for 30-40 seconds, he was driving, 60 to 70 feet away, at night, and only saw their backs and clothes and could not ID their faces. The Court noted that a “description of two young males in hats, winter jackets, and tennis shoes was not particularly detailed or unique, given the time of year.” The fact that the witness thought one perpetrator was running with a limp, and that at the show up one defendant seemed to be favoring one leg, coupled with a short time between initial sighting and the show up, did not outweigh witness’s overall inability to observe the individuals and note distinctive characteristics. Not a groundbreaking case, considering that the witness never saw the perpetrators’ faces, but courts have still upheld ID’s where there was no facial recognition (see the bad cases below), so congratulations to the Court of Appeals of Minnesota for doing the right thing.