State v. Santino J. Micelli (070453), 72 A.3d 235

Micelli was convicted of third-degree eluding a police officer after a Wade hearing addressed out-of-court identifications.
Two Elmwood Park officers saw the suspect vehicle’s driver in profile at a DWI checkpoint and later identified Micelli from a single-photo display.
The trial court held the identifications were not impermissibly suggestive, and the second prong of Manson/Madison was not reached.
The Appellate Division majority held the procedures were impermissibly suggestive and exercised original jurisdiction to evaluate reliability under the second prong.
The Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Division on the use of original jurisdiction and remanded for a new Wade hearing, with the law on the case governed as the law of the case.
Remand directs a different judge to conduct a new Wade hearing focused on the second prong of Manson/Madison and proper balancing of prongs.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the out-of-court identifications were impermissibly suggestive	Micelli argued procedures were impermissibly suggestive and unreliable	Kassai and Kochis observations could be reliable despite suggestiveness	Identification impermissive? remanded for Wade hearing to evaluate reliability
Whether reliability must be assessed under the Manson/Madison second prong at Wade	Second prong weighs reliability against suggestiveness	Trial court should determine reliability with proper standard	Yes; Wade hearing required to assess reliability under Madison
Whether appellate original-jurisdiction analysis improperly weighed evidence	Appellate Division correctly weighed the evidence under original jurisdiction	Original jurisdiction was improper to weigh evidence anew	Appellate use of original jurisdiction was incorrect; remand for new Wade hearing

Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1977) (two-prong reliability framework for identifications)
State v. Madison, 109 N.J. 223 (N.J. Supreme Court, 1988) (adopted Manson two-prong test for admissibility in New Jersey)
State v. Henderson, 208 N.J. 208 (N.J. Supreme Court, 2011) (recent guidance on reliability and identification procedures)
Herrera v. State, 187 N.J. 493 (N.J. Supreme Court, 2006) (identification reliability factors applied to showups)
State v. Adams, 194 N.J. 186 (N.J. Supreme Court, 2008) (reliability factors and admissibility framework)
State v. Sugar, 108 N.J. 151 (N.J. Supreme Court, 1987) (original jurisdiction to decide issues without remand when appropriate)
State v. Santos, 210 N.J. 129 (N.J. Supreme Court, 2012) (limits on use of original jurisdiction to avoid credibility determinations)