People v. Ortiz

Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Identification
Citation
Case Number: 
2017 IL App (1st) 142559
Decision Date: 
Friday, February 24, 2017
District: 
1st Dist.
Division/County: 
Cook Co., 5th Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed.
Justice: 
LAMPKIN

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of attempted 1st-degree murder, armed robbery, and aggravated vehicular hijacking. No error in court's denial of Defendant's motion to suppress, as pretrial procedures were not unduly suggestive. Participants in a lineup or photo array should not appear grossly dissimilar to the suspect, but are not required to be identical or near identical to the suspect. Court's denial of Defendant's request to present testimony of experimental psychologist, as expert on how memory and human perception relate to eyewitness identification, was harmless error, as exclusion of his testimony did not contribute to Defendant's conviction, given circumstantial evidence and strong DNA evidence. Court properly denied Defendant's request to give non-IPI instruction, which was akin to a defense argument, as jury was properly instructed on issue of identification through instructions as a whole. (REYES, concurring; GORDON, specially concurring.)