When I first came to the School of Government, I picked a few small areas of law in which I hoped to develop some expertise. One of those areas was the then-new Eyewitness Identification Reform Act. It was enacted in 2007, effective for crimes committed on or after March 1, 2008. S.L. 2007-421. It's codified at G.S. 15A-284.50 et seq. As most readers likely know, the Act prescribes procedures that law enforcement officers must follow when conducting lineups. For example, it requires that at least five fillers be included in each lineup; that the individuals or photographs in a lineup be presented to the witness sequentially rather than simultaneously; that lineups normally be conducted by officers who don't know the identity of the suspect; and so on. As I traveled the state talking about the Act to anyone who was willing to listen, one of the questions I received most frequently was whether the law's provisions applied to show-ups. A show-up, of course, is a procedure "whereby a suspect is shown singularly to a witness or witnesses for the purposes of identification.” State v. Harrison, 169 N.C. App. 257 (2005). They typically take place in the immediate aftermath of a crime, when an officer apprehends a suspect and presents him to the crime victim for confirmation that the officer arrested the right person. I always said that the Act didn't apply to show-ups, because by its terms, the it applies only to "photo lineup[s]" and "live lineup[s]." A photo lineup takes [...]
Faculty Coordinators
