Also known as: lineup · lineups · line-up · line-ups · show-up · show-ups · showup · showups · photo array · photo arrays · photographic array · photographic arrays · pretrial identification · eyewitness identification procedures
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Pretrial identification procedures by which law enforcement presents a suspect or suspect image to a witness for possible recognition as the perpetrator. The Sixth Amendment right to counsel attaches at post-charge corporeal procedures such as lineups and showups because they constitute a critical stage, but does not attach at photo arrays or pre-charge procedures. Due process requires suppression when an identification procedure is unnecessarily suggestive and creates a substantial likelihood of misidentification.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Detectives arrest Landon Long on suspicion of robbery but file no charges. They conduct a lineup the next day at which the victim identifies Long. Because no formal proceedings have begun, the identification is admissible even though counsel was absent.
After indictment, officers bring Layla Lane to a hospital room where the victim views her alone. The identification must be suppressed because the post-charge showup is a critical stage requiring counsel.
Police show Lillian Locke a six-photo array before any charges are filed. The array is admissible without counsel present because photo identifications are not a critical stage under the Sixth Amendment.
After indictment, officers arrange a lineup for Leo Lynch. Counsel must be present because the post-charge corporeal identification is a critical stage at which the Sixth Amendment right attaches.
After an unconstitutional showup, the victim identifies Lance Lee in court. The court admits the in-court identification because the victim had a good view during the crime, gave an accurate description, and showed high certainty two days later.
Police bring Lila Lin to a dying victim's bedside for a showup hours after the crime. The identification is admissible despite suggestiveness because immediate identification was necessary given the victim's condition.
The right attaches only after formal adversary judicial proceedings such as indictment or information have begun. Pre-charge or investigative lineups do not trigger the guarantee.
Supporting sources
No. Photo identifications are not treated as a critical stage requiring counsel, although the procedure may still be challenged on due process grounds if it is unnecessarily suggestive.
…identification situation, the interrogator may take a break in his questioning to place the subject among a group of men in a line-up. "The witness or complainant (previously coached, if necessary) studies the line-up and confidently points out the subject as the guilty party."[^maj-18] Then the questioning resumes "as…
…holdings like Gilbert v. California , supra , where the Court held that the States must arrange presence of counsel at lineups, see Mr. Justice White’s separate opinion in United States v. Wade , 388 U. S. 218, 250 (1967), which I joined, this is because those decisions incorrectly require, in my view, counsel in…
…us with. The implausibility of Justice Breyer's contention that Apprendi is unfair to criminal defendants is exposed by the lineup of amici in this case. It is hard to believe that the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers was somehow duped into arguing for the wrong side. Justice Breyer's only authority…
…and detained on "open" charges for ten hours, during which time he was interrogated about a murder[^maj-2] and exhibited in lineups; that he was not brought before a magistrate, although numerous magistrate's courts were accessible; that he was not advised of his procedural rights; that he was not permitted to call his…
…majority notes, the suppression of fingerprint evidence and the alleged suppression of information relating to certain pretrial
Supporting sources
Courts consider the witness's opportunity to view the perpetrator, degree of attention, accuracy of prior description, level of certainty at the confrontation, and time between crime and confrontation.
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Exigent circumstances such as the victim's inability to travel or imminent death can justify a suggestive showup if the procedure is necessary and not fundamentally unfair.
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No. The in-court identification is not excluded merely because the defendant's presence resulted from an unlawful detention.
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