MBE Rules · Criminal Procedure
Photographic identification
United States v. Ash / Manson v. Brathwaite
The rule
There is no Sixth Amendment right to counsel at any photographic identification procedure, whether pre- or post-indictment. Due process bars admission of a photo-ID only if the procedure was unnecessarily suggestive AND the resulting identification is unreliable under the totality of circumstances (Biggers/Brathwaite factors).
In plain English
Photo arrays are treated as investigative tools, not critical stages. Reliability, not suggestiveness alone, is the ultimate due-process question.
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