James Joseph Garner, Petitioner v. the People of the State of Colorado, Respondent.

Summary

The court held that due process does not require a Biggers reliability screening of a first-time in-court identification when no impermissibly suggestive pretrial identification procedure was arranged by law enforcement and nothing beyond the ordinary courtroom setting made the identification constitutionally suspect. Because the brothers' prior failure to identify Garner in photographic arrays affected the weight of their testimony rather than its admissibility, and Garner did not preserve specific evidentiary objections, the identifications were properly admitted and their admission was not plain error. Justice Hart, joined by Justices Hood and Gabriel, dissented, concluding that first-time in-court identifications are inherently suggestive, state-arranged, and should have been screened for reliability.