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Criminal Procedure Keyed to Ohlin
Foster v. California
Citation:
394 U.S. 440 (1969)Facts
Petitioner was charged by information with the armed robbery of a Western Union office. The day after the robbery one of the robbers, Clay, surrendered to the police and implicated Foster and Grice. Allegedly, Foster and Clay had entered the office while Grice waited in a car. The only witness to the crime was Joseph David, the late-night manager of the Western Union office. After Foster had been arrested, David was called to the police station to view a lineup. There were three men in the lineup. One was petitioner. He is a tall man – close to six feet in height. The other two men were short – five feet. Petitioner wore a leather jacket which David said was similar to the one he had seen underneath the coveralls worn by the robber. After seeing this lineup, David could not positively identify petitioner as the robber. He thought he was the man, but he was not sure. David then talked to the petitioner and was convinced petitioner was the man. At trial, David testified to his identification of petitioner in the lineups.
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