Showups Identifications Are Disfavored

In People v Blunt (2010 NY Slip Op 02191 [4th Dept 3/23/10]), the Fourth Department suppressed the results of a showup identification where the testimony "established that the incident occurred at approximately 7:25 a.m. and that the showup was conducted at approximately 9:30 p.m., several miles away from the scene of the incident and after defendant had been placed under arrest and drugs were found on his possession." The Court explained that

It is well settled that showup identifications are generally disfavored because they are inherently suggestive by nature, but they nevertheless are not "presumptively infirm" (People v Duuvon, 77 NY2d 541, 543; see People v Ortiz, 90 NY2d 533, 537). Showup identifications must be conducted "prompt[ly]" following the defendant's arrest and they must occur "at or near the crime scene" (Duuvon, 77 NY2d at 544). In determining whether the showup identification is conducted in adequate temporal and geographic proximity to the crime, courts must consider the specific facts and circumstances of each case.