NC Court of Appeals found the trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion to suppress asserting that an eyewitness’s pretrial identification was unduly suggestive and found no violation of the EIRA where the eyewitness identified the defendant by looking through the pages of The Slammer newspaper.
Eyewitness ID
Showups Aren’t Lineups
UNC School of Government blog post by Jeff Welty on State v. Rawls which held that show-ups are not covered by the Eyewitness Identification Reform Act.
State v. Rawls, 700 S.E.2d 112 (2010)
In State v. Rawls, 700 S.E.2d 112 (2010), the Court of Appeals held that “show-ups” are distinct from line-ups, and, therefore, are not subject to the guidelines set out in EIRA. Rather, the court applied the North Carolina common law test for determining if the show-up was proper which is a two-step inquiry described above: (1) …
Suggestive Eyewitness Identification Procedures and the Supreme Court’s Reliability Test in Light of Eyewitness Science: 30 Years Later
by Gary Wells and Deah Quinlivan, Law Hum Behav (2009) 33:1-24.
Eyewitness Identification Reform Act (EIRA)
For crimes committed on or after March 1, 2008, the Eyewitness Identification Reform Act (EIRA) creates procedural guidelines for eyewitness identifications during photo lineups and live lineups. This legislation is codified at N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-284.50 through 15A-284.53 (2007).
State v. Lee, 154 N.C. App. 410, 417 (2002)
Expert testimony on eyewitness identification has been excluded in several cases, so counsel should be prepared for a challenge to its admissibility. Trial courts will weigh whether the proposed testimony is case specific and has probative value, and will consider such factors as whether the expert interviewed the eyewitnesses, visited the crime scene and observed …
Eyewitness Evidence A Guide for Law Enforcement
1999 US DOJ guide developed by the Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence. Law enforcement should be aware of these best practices.
Eyewitness Identification Procedures: Recommendations for Lineups and Photospreads
by Gary Wills, Mark Small Steven Penrod, Roy Malpass, Solomon Fulero, C.A.E. Brimacombe, Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 22, No. 6, 1998.
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