North Carolina Statutory Requirements Concerning How to Conduct Lineups and Show-ups

Live and photo lineups and show-ups implicate constitutional and statutory requirements. This post will focus on the statutory requirements. For constitutional requirements, see pages 594-98 in Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina (5th ed. 2016). In 2007, legislation codified in G.S. 15A-284.50 through -284.53 imposed requirements concerning how officers must conduct live and photo lineups. S.L. 2007-421 (entitled the “Eyewitness Identification Reform Act”). In 2015, additional legislation codified in the same statutes imposed requirements when conducting show-ups. S.L. 2015-212. Lineups. The term “lineup” in G.S. 15A-284.52 includes live lineups and photo lineups. A live lineup is defined as a procedure in which a group of people is displayed to an eyewitness for the purpose of determining whether the eyewitness is able to identify the perpetrator of a crime. A photo lineup is defined as a procedure in which an array of photographs is displayed to an eyewitness for the same purpose. The principal provisions for lineups are as follows: A lineup must be conducted by an independent administrator, defined as a person who is not participating in the investigation of the criminal offense and who is unaware of which person in the lineup is a suspect. This procedure is known as a double-blind lineup because neither the witness nor the officer conducting the lineup knows who the suspect is. For photo lineups, certain alternative methods may be used instead of an independent administrator, such as an automated computer program. See State v. Gamble, ___ N.C. App. ___, 777 S.E.2d 158 (2015) [...]