Question
Arthur Das robbed the Mini-Mart on Arlington Avenue while wearing his favorite red leather jacket. He made no attempt to hide his identity, figuring that
Arthur Das robbed the Mini-Mart on Arlington Avenue while wearing his favorite red leather jacket. He made no attempt to hide his identity, figuring that the elderly clerk would be too scared to remember him. Unfortunately for Arthur, the clerk remembered his bright red jacket, so when he was pulled over for speeding a few miles from the store the police officer immediately detained him. The clerk was brought to the police station to do a line-up of suspects. In the line-up Arthur was told to remove his jacket. The police were having trouble finding participants who looked like Arthur so there were only five persons in the line-up. The problem finding participants also meant that Arthur was four inches taller than all of the other participants in the line-up and he was also only one of two men to have a mustache. Despite this, the clerk could not identify him as the man who robbed the store. A week later the police conducted a second lineup. This time they were able to find other men who looked vaguely like Arthur, and they at least all had mustaches. He was still the tallest person in the line-up, but only by three inches this time. He was also the only person to appear in both line-ups. Frustrated, the police decided to hold one final line-up. Out on bail Arthur reported to the police station yet again. He was feeling lucky, so he wore his favorite red jacket. The police again managed to find a decent group for the line-up. They had eight total men participating in the line-up, all of whom were within an inch of Arthur's height and all with mustaches. However, the police forgot about Arthur's red jacket and allowed him to wear it in the line-up, the only participant to be wearing any red. In truth, they didn't expect the clerk to identify him this time either, so they were being fairly lax about procedures. As soon as the clerk saw the red jacket, he yelled pointing at Arthur, "That's him! He's the one who robbed the store!"
The defense wants to suppress the line-up identification at court. Will they be able to do so? Why?
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