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Criminal Procedure Keyed to Miller
State v. Larry Henderson
Citation:
27 A.3d 872 (N.J. 2011)Facts
Womble (witness) was smoking cocaine with his girlfriend and Harper (victim) when two men entered the apartment. Womble knew one of the men, Clark, but not the other. While Clark attempted to collect $160 from Harper in another room, the stranger pointed a gun at Womble and told him not to move. Womble later testified that he got a look at the stranger, but not a really good look. Womble then heard a gunshot from the other room and saw Clark holding a gun. As Clark left, he warned Womble not to rat him out.
Harper died from the gunshot wound. Womble initially lied to investigators about the circumstances of the murder, but when the investigators confronted him about inconsistencies in his story, he admitted that he lied out of fear of retaliation and led them to Clark. Clark then gave a statement identifying his accomplice as Henderson (defendant).
An officer had Womble view a photographic lineup with seven filler photos and one photo of Henderson. Womble eliminated six photos but seemed indecisive about the final two photos. The investigators told Womble that they would provide protection against any threats of retaliation. In response, Womble identified Henderson as the culprit. At trial, Henderson did not retract his identification of Henderson but said he felt pressured to make a choice.
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