CARL CRIBBS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1974-02-08
No. 73-613
Mann, Chief Judge, McNulty, J., Boardman, J.
297 So. 2d 335 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1974) Negative Treatment
Cited by 10 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

When a lineup is found impermissibly suggestive, the in-court identification is presumed tainted unless the State proves by clear and convincing evidence that it rests on an independent basis; the trial court erred by suppressing only the lineup while allowing the in-court identification without addressing this taint analysis.


Holding

When a lineup is impermissibly suggestive, the in-court identification is presumed tainted and admissible only if the State proves by clear and convincing evidence that it has an independent source untainted by the defective lineup.


Headnotes

[1] When a pretrial lineup is impermissibly suggestive, the in-court identification is presumed tainted and admissible only upon clear and convincing evidence of an independe…

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Key Quotes

“When a line-up was shown to have been improper, the in-court identification is presumed to be tainted by it until the State shows by clear and convincing evidence that the in-court identification is grounded upon an independent basis.”

Explaining the proper legal standard for admitting in-court identifications following defective lineups

Facts & Procedural History

Cribbs participated in an impermissibly suggestive lineup. The witness had seen the defendant on several prior occasions and had given a description t…

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Opinion of the Court
MANN, Chief Judge.

MANN, Chief Judge.

The trial court held that the lineup in which Cribbs participated was im-permissibly suggestive and announced, “I am going to suppress the line-up but not the in-court identification.” There is consequently a misunderstanding of United States v. Wade, 1967, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149. When a line-up was shown to have been improper, the in-court identification is presumed to be tainted by it until the State shows by clear and convincing evidence that the in-court identification is grounded upon an independent basis. That may well have been shown in this case, had the court recognized the effect of the taint, because the witness had seen the defendant on several prior occasions and had given a description of him to the police. Unfortunately we know nothing about what that description was and we have no basis on this record for determining that the in-court identification was based upon observation prior to the invalid line-up. The evidence of guilt is not so conclusive as would warrant our finding the error harmless, as we did in Settle v. State, Fla.App., 288 So. 2d 511, Opinion filed January 25, 1974.

The judgment and sentence are vacated and the cause is remanded for further proceedings, free of suggestivity, affording the State an opportunity to show by clear and convincing evidence that, the in-court identification is free of taint, and thereafter for reentry of judgment and sentence or for a new trial as required by United States v. Wade, supra.

McNULTY and BOARDMAN, JJ., concur.

Other

The State’s supplemental petition for rehearing asserts that:

“This honorable court’s reliance on United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218 [87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149], for vacating and remanding is completely misplaced in that: United States v. Wade is concerned with a rule of exclusion applicable only when there is a denial of counsel at lineup.

There is no rule of exclusion applicable to in-court identifications involving questions of pretrial misidentification procedures. The in-court identification continues to be admissible even though the pretrial misidentification procedure is so unduly suggestive as to give rise to a substantial likelihood of misidentification. It is only when the word irreparable comes into play that one is concerned with the in-court identification as a violation of due process.” To suggest that Wade has no pertinence except to the question of counsel at line-up is grossly to misread that decision. Our opinion did not deprive the State of its opportunity to show that the in-court identification was grounded upon an adequate independent basis. A reading of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Wade, especially § V, 388 U.S. 218 at 239, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149 et seq., will elucidate the fallacy on which the petition for rehearing rests. Counsel for the State is referred also to Wall, Eyewitness Identification in Criminal Cases, and to American Law Institute Model Code of Pre-arraignment Procedure, Tentative Draft No. 6, Part 1(c) (1974).

Petition for rehearing is denied.

McNULTY and BOARDMAN, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Edmond Duhart v. State, 348 So. 2d 387 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
    …Fla. 3d DCA 1975); Lattimore v. State, 323 So. 2d 5 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975); United States v. Jones, 457 F. 2d 697 (5th Cir. 1972); Chaney v. State, 267 So. 2d 65 (Fla.1972); Hanks v. State, 305 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975); and compare Cribbs v. State, 297 So. 2d 335 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974).…
  • State v. Ciongoli, 313 So. 2d 41 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975)
    …ously taken the same position, see Perkins v. State, 228 So. 2d 382 (Fla.1969), and Robinson v. State, 237 So. 2d 268 (4th DCA Fla.1970). . Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441. . The trial judge in Cribbs v. State, 297 So. 2d 335 (2d DCA Fla.1974), found a line-up im-permissibly suggestive and suppressed the line-up but not the in-court identification. In vacating judgment the Second District Court of Appeal held this to be a misunderstanding of Wade and specifically decline…
  • State v. Sepulvado, 362 So. 2d 324 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978)
    …ust be considered to determine if the witness’ in-court identification is grounded upon a basis independent of the suggestive pretrial procedure. Simmons v. United States, supra; Hamilton v. State, 303 So. 2d 656 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974); Cribbs v. State, 297 So. 2d 335 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert. denied, 303 So. 2d 335 (Fla.1974). However, once a trial court determines that a pretrial identification procedure was impermissibly suggestive, it is presumed that any in-court identification will be tainted. It is the state’s…

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