Also known as: post charge lineup · postcharge lineup · post-arraignment lineup
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A corporeal identification procedure in which a witness views the suspect among other individuals after formal adversarial proceedings have begun. The procedure constitutes a critical stage of the prosecution at which the Sixth Amendment guarantees the suspect the presence of counsel unless the right is validly waived.
Penelope Price was indicted for theft from her employer. Two days later police assembled her with several office workers in a station basement so the victim could view them. Officers did not notify Price's retained counsel even though the attorney was available that afternoon. The victim identified Price. Because the lineup occurred after indictment without counsel present, the identification is subject to suppression on Sixth Amendment grounds.
Preston Pratt was formally charged with smuggling. Customs officers then lined him up with several dockworkers so a crew member could identify who had loaded a suspicious container. Pratt's appointed attorney received no notice and was absent. The crew member identified Pratt. The post-charge corporeal procedure without counsel violated the Sixth Amendment right that attaches once adversarial proceedings begin.
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Paula Pierce was arrested on suspicion of robbery but had not yet been charged. Officers arranged for the victim to view her among several detainees at the station. No attorney was present. Because formal adversarial proceedings had not yet begun, the viewing did not trigger the Sixth Amendment right to counsel at a post-charge lineup.
The right attaches once formal adversarial proceedings begin by indictment, information, or arraignment. A post-charge corporeal identification procedure is then treated as a critical stage at which counsel must be present unless the right is validly waived.
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The resulting identification is subject to suppression. The prosecution may still attempt to show an independent source for any later in-court identification by the same witness.
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No. Once the right has attached the state bears an affirmative obligation to provide counsel or obtain a knowing and voluntary waiver. The absence of an express request does not excuse the violation.
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Yes. The constitutional protection turns on the initiation of adversarial proceedings and the nature of the corporeal identification procedure, not on labels chosen by investigators.
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…or after formal charges are filed. The defendant is just as much in need of counsel's protection at a pre-charge lineup as at a post-charge lineup. I would reverse the judgment of the Illinois Supreme Court. Dissenting — Mr. Justice White Mr. Justice White, dissenting. I agree with much of what Mr. Justice Brennan has said in…