You are here: / / Cumulative Effect of Several “Suggestive” Factors Rendered...

Cumulative Effect of Several “Suggestive” Factors Rendered the Show-Up Identification Inadmissible

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Gische, over a dissent, determined the show-up identification of the defendants was unduly suggestive and should have been suppressed. While none of the “suggestive” factors alone would have been sufficient to invalidate the identification, the cumulative effect of all the factors rendered the identification inadmissible. The defendants were handcuffed and standing together in a well-lit garage, surrounded by police officers.  The driver of the police car carrying the complainant, who had been assaulted an hour before by “three or four black teens,” shown the car’s headlights and “takedown” lights on the defendants. The defendants, none of whom were “teens,” and one of whom was light-skinned, were covered in soot. The complainant looked at the defendants through the police car’s mesh divider and windshield.  In addition to noting there were no “exigent circumstances” mandating the show-up procedure, the court described the factors which cumulatively rendered the show-up inadmissble at trial as follows:

Here, the three suspects were standing side by side after the complainant had described her attack by multiple attackers. Defendants were flanked by as many as eight officers and, apart from the complainant, they were the only civilians present. Defendants were visibly restrained. This was obvious, not only from the fact that their hands were behind their backs, but also from the fact that defendant Santiago, who had visible physical injuries to his face indicative of a recent scuffle, was being physically restrained by one of the officers as the complainant made her identification. Defendants were covered in soot, such that it affected their appearance, particularly as to skin color. Previously, the complainant had described her assailants’ “black” skin color as a prominent identifying feature, along with their ages. As the complainant was driven from the precinct to the location of the showup identification, she was told that she would be looking at people, and that she should tell the officers if she had seen them before. When defendants were shown to the complainant, they were illuminated by the patrol car’s headlights and takedown flood lights, even though the garage lighting itself was good.

We recognize that some of these factors, either alone or even in combination do not necessarily make a showup identification unduly suggestive. A showup identification may be acceptable, even where a defendant is handcuffed and guarded by police officers when shown to the complainant … . Nor is the fact that remarks are made to a complainant before being taken to a lineup itself a basis for a prohibited showup identification … . This is because a person of ordinary intelligence would realize that the police are showing them someone suspected of having committed a crime … . Even shining lights on a suspect is not by itself unduly suggestive … . It is the cumulative effect of what otherwise might be individually permissible that makes this particular showup identification unduly suggestive. The showup was clearly beyond the high water mark set forth by the Court of Appeals… . People v Cruz, 2015 NY Slip Op 04597, 1st Dept 6-2-15

 

You might also like
Expert Opinion About Link Between Trauma and a Stroke Erroneously Precluded/Frye Hearing Erroneously Ordered/The Opinion Evidence Was Not Controversial and Was Sufficiently Supported by the Relevant Literature to Obviate the Need for a Frye Hearing
DEFENDANT PROPERTY OWNERS PRESENTED NO EVIDENCE TO DEMONSTRATE WHEN THE STEPS WHERE PLAINTIFF SLIPPED AND FELL WERE LAST INSPECTED OR CLEANED; THEREFORE DEFENDANTS WERE NOT ENTITLED TO SUMMARY JUDGMENT (FIRST DEPT). ​
THE ATTEMPTED GANG ASSAULT CHARGE WAS A LEGAL IMPOSSIBILITY FOR TRIAL PURPOSES (FIRST DEPT).
OUT-OF-POSSESSION LANDLORD COULD NOT HAVE FORESEEN THAT INFANT PLAINTIFF WOULD MOVE LOGS STACKED AT THE SIDE OF THE PROPERTY AND THEN FALL WHEN JUMPING FROM LOG TO LOG, INFANT PLAINTIFF CREATED THE DANGEROUS CONDITION AND ASSUMED THE RISK (FIRST DEPT). ​
MERELY QUESTIONING THE CREDIBILITY OF PLAINTIFF’S EXPLANATION OF THE CAUSE OF HER STAIRWAY SLIP AND FALL DID NOT RAISE A QUESTION OF FACT, DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FIRST DEPT).
Appellate Court Can Exercise Its Own Discretion Re: Scope of Discovery, Even in the Absence of Abuse
Inconsistent Responses to Special-Verdict Interrogatories Required Resubmission to the Jury or a New Trial
PLAINTIFF, UNDER NEW JERSEY LAW, SUFFICIENTLY PLED A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH DEFENDANT BANK GIVING RISE TO A DUTY TO ENFORCE ITS ANTI-FRAUD PROCEDURES; PLAINTIFF WIRED $300,000 TO AN ACCOUNT WHICH HAD BEEN SET UP TO DEFRAUD PLAINTIFF (FIRST DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

Open Question About Whether Claimant Was Permanently Disabled Indicated Claimant’s... Res Ipsa Locquitur Doctrine Not Available Where Multiple Defendants Did Not...