Neil v. Biggers

The Supreme Court of United States

Respondent/Defendant: Biggers; the defendant took his victim to the woods in a full moon night and raped her. The victim described the defendant to the police as a teen with a youthful voice, as being fat, dark brown, etc. The victim was shown many photographs and other people who met the description, but she did not identify anyone. After about 7 months, the police had a showup where the officers asked the defendant to say "shut up or I will kill you" to the victim and the victim immediately identified the defendant as the person who had rapped her. The lower courts suppressed the victim's identification of the defendant because they ruled that the identification porcess was extremely suggestive.

Issue: Was the victim's identification of the defendant reliable?

Holding: Yes

Key Facts: Factors involved in determining the reliability of identification are: " opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime, the witness' degree of attention, the accuracy of the witness' prior description of the criminal, the level of certainty demostrated by the witness at the confrontation, and the length of the time between the crime and the confrontation."

Legal Reasoning: The court held that the identification was reliable because the victim was with the defendant for about half an hour and she was raped, so she got a close look at the defendant. The court further held that the victim was extremely sure of herself and her image of the defendant. The victim also provided a substantial amount of information about the looks of the defendant and she was also very accurate in the past when the police had shown her other photographs. So the court ruled that even though the police could have used better means of identification, the identification can still be considered reliable and the ruling of the lower court was reversed.

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