8th Circuit decides N.D. case Tuesday, May 9, 2023

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in a North Dakota case.

In United States v. Watkins the court held that it need not decide whether the search warrant was supported by probable cause as the district court correctly found that even without probable cause, the Leon good faith exception applied; defendant's challenge to an identification based on a photo array rejected because even if the line up were impermissibly suggestive, the identification was still sufficiently reliable to be admissible; on this record, the district court did not err in denying defendant's request to introduce expert testimony on eyewitness identification; the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant's request to sever his case from that of his co-defendant; the district court adequately instructed the jury on reasonable doubt, eyewitness testimony, and out-of-court identification, and it did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's request for an instruction on eyewitness identification.

Read the court's opinion at http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/05/222196P.pdf