Background

• Moreland convicted after a jury trial in Anne Arundel County of armed robbery, robbery, handgun-use offenses, wearing a handgun, and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon; sentences imposed and some counts merged.
• October 2, 2009, bank robbery at Bank of Annapolis in Edgewater; two assailants, one wearing a ski hat and sunglasses, entered during a break in on a teller’s door; appellant identified as one robber by bank staff and witnesses.
• Surveillance video captured the robbery; the bank manager and other witnesses identified the appellant in video stills and photographs.
• Detective Cooper investigated, reviewed video stills, and consulted with Eric Owens, who testified that he knew the appellant as a cousin and identified him in the video.
• Defense objected to Owens’s lay-identification testimony as irrelevant and prejudicial; the trial court admitted the testimony with limitations; appellate issue is whether admission was error.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Ragland v. State, 385 Md. 706 (2005) (disapproved, in part, lay opinion limits for police testimony)
• Washington v. State, 179 Md.App. 32 (2008) (lay opinion identification from surveillance images—categories of admissible lay opinion)
• Robinson v. Colorado, 927 P.2d 381 (Colo.1996) (identification in surveillance photos permitted where witness familiar with defendant)
• United States v. Jackman, 48 F.3d 1 (1st Cir.1995) (identification from video/photos; lay opinion admissible with basis in perception)