The People v. Kaity Marshall

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals held that a prosecutor's pretrial display of a defendant's photograph to an eyewitness is subject to a Wade hearing when the defendant challenges its suggestiveness, even if the display was intended as trial preparation. The Court rejected the trial-preparation exception associated with People v. Herner, but affirmed the conviction because the record supported an independent source for the eyewitness's in-court identification and the error was harmless.

Holdings

1. The trial-preparation exception derived from People v. Herner and the preliminary Herner hearing procedure are inconsistent with New York's approach to suggestive pretrial identifications and should not be used to shield a prosecutor's or police officer's out-of-court display of the defendant's likeness from Wade scrutiny.
2. Upon a defendant's motion alleging undue suggestiveness, the court must conduct a formal pretrial Wade hearing to determine whether the police or prosecutor conducted an out-of-court identification procedure that exposed the witness to the defendant's identity in an unduly suggestive manner.
3. Although the trial court improperly denied defendant a Wade hearing, the error was harmless because the record supported the trial court's alternative finding that the complainant's in-court identification had an independent source in her spontaneous hospital identification of defendant.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a prosecutor's pretrial display of a single photograph of the defendant to an identifying witness may be treated as trial preparation and excluded from Wade-hearing scrutiny under People v. Herner.
2. Whether a defendant who alleges that an out-of-court viewing of the defendant's likeness was unduly suggestive is entitled to a formal Wade hearing regardless of the prosecutor's stated purpose.
3. Whether the trial court's failure to conduct a Wade hearing required reversal when the record supported an independent source for the complainant's in-court identification.

Disposition

affirmed