Email WV Code

Email: Chapter 62, Article 1E, Section 1

§62-1E-1. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article:

(1) "Administrator" means the person conducting the live lineup, photo lineup or showup.

(2) "Suspect" means the person believed by law enforcement to be the possible perpetrator of the crime.

(3) "Blind" means the administrator does not know the identity of the suspect.

(4) "Blinded" means the administrator may know who the suspect is, but does not know which lineup member is being viewed by the eyewitness.

(5) "Eyewitness" means a person whose identification of another person may be relevant in a criminal proceeding.

(6) "Filler" means either a person or a photograph of a person who is not suspected of an offense and is included in an identification procedure.

(7) "Folder shuffle method" means a procedure for displaying a photo lineup with the following steps:

(A) Photos used in a photo lineup are placed in their own respective folder, and the folders are shuffled, numbered and then presented to an eyewitness such that the administrator cannot see or track which photo is being presented to the witness until after the procedure is completed;

(B) The procedure is completed only when the eyewitness has viewed the entire array of numbered folders, even if an affirmative identification is made prior to the eyewitness viewing all of the numbered folders;

(C) If an eyewitness requests a second viewing, the eyewitness must be shown all of the lineup members again, even if the eyewitness makes an identification during this second showing; and

(D) The eyewitness shall be allowed to review the folders only once after the initial viewing is complete.

(8) "Lineup" means a live lineup or photo lineup of persons or photographs of persons matching as close as possible the eyewitness's description of the perpetrator.

(9) "Live lineup" means a procedure in which a group of people is displayed to an eyewitness for the purpose of determining if the eyewitness is able to identify the perpetrator of a crime.

(10) "Photo lineup" means a procedure in which an array of photographs is displayed to an eyewitness for the purpose of determining if the eyewitness is able to identify the perpetrator of a crime.

(11) "Sequential presentation" means presenting live or photo lineup persons to the eyewitness one-by-one rather than all at once.

(12) "Showup" means an identification procedure in which an eyewitness is presented with a single suspect for the purpose of determining whether the eyewitness identifies this individual as the perpetrator.