Commonwealth v. T.T.

T.T. was arrested after a victim reported to police that two men committed a home invasion robbery where he was beaten and had his car keys stolen. The victim reported that he knew one of the men (not T.T.), and that the co-defendant and T.T. forcibly entered his house demanding money for marijuana that the victim had stolen. When the victim resisted, the two men beat him with his fists and then stole his car. Although the victim easily identified the co-defendant after the incident to police, he did not identify T.T. until several months later when he was looking at the co-defendant’s facebook page and noticed T.T.’s profile picture. He informed police that this was the individual that was with the co-defendant. Police then arranged a photo array, and T.T. was identified, and then arrested. Prior to the preliminary hearing, the defense won a lineup motion to require the victim to attempt to identify T.T. in person simultaneously with other similar looking individuals. The victim went to the lineup and failed to make an identification. At the preliminary hearing, the DA argued that the prior identification from the photo array was sufficient to hold T.T. for trial on all charges. The defense attacked the victim’s ability to make an identification at the time of the home invasion, and argued that the identification of T.T. was unreliable. The judge agreed with the defense and dismissed all charges.