State v. Patterson

420 S.E.2d 98 (1992)

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State v. Patterson

North Carolina Supreme Court
420 S.E.2d 98 (1992)

Facts

A police officer met with four eyewitnesses to an armed robbery. Using a kit that contained hundreds of different facial features, the officer created an initial rendering of the suspect’s face. The officer then asked each witness what was wrong with the face and used the witness’s responses to adjust the features with different kit parts. The process ended when the witness said that the composite picture matched the person the witness had seen commit the robbery. George Patterson (defendant) was arrested and charged with committing the armed robbery. At trial, the trial court admitted the composite pictures created by the eyewitnesses as evidence. Patterson was convicted and appealed. On appeal, Patterson argued that the composite pictures were inadmissible hearsay. The appellate court affirmed the conviction, and Patterson appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Mitchell, J.)

Concurrence (Frye, J.)

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