Pretrial lineup is a procedure where police officers place an alleged criminal in a line with several other individuals to allow a witness or victim the opportunity to identify the alleged criminal. As noted by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Wade, for the purpose of identification, the pretrial confrontation may take the form of a lineup, also known as “identification parade” or “showup,” or presentation of the suspect alone to the witness.
In Evans v. Superior Court, the Supreme Court of California stated that the prosecution could use a properly conducted lineup to discover which witnesses are able to identify an accused and provide material evidence of guilt. The Court held that when eyewitness identification is shown to be a material issue, and when there is a reasonable likelihood of a mistaken identification that a lineup could resolve, due process requires that upon timely request, the accused be afforded a pretrial lineup.
In Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the accused’s privilege against self-incrimination was not violated by the lineup or by requiring the accused to exhibit his physical characteristics, such as by asking Wade to speak within the hearing distance of the witnesses. Because a pretrial lineup involves grave potential for prejudice, and the presence of counsel can often avert prejudice, the Court noted that the lineup was a critical stage where Wade was as entitled to counsel as he would be at trial. Both his counsel and Wade should have been notified of the upcoming lineup, and the counsel’s presence should be a requisite to the lineup, absent an intelligent waiver.
[Last updated in December of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]