State v. Cruz
Annotate this CaseAfter a consolidated jury trial on two homicide cases against Defendant, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions, holding that the district court (1) did not err in granting the State's motion to consolidate the two cases for trial after finding that the crimes were of the same or similar character; (2) did not err in allowing the jury to decide whether eyewitness identification evidence was reliable under the totality of the circumstances even though the identification procedure used by the police was unnecessarily suggestive; (3) incorrectly instructed the jury on eyewitness identification testimony, but the error did not prejudice Defendant; and (4) did not err in admitting gang evidence. Lastly, the errors in this proceeding did not deny Defendant his right to a fair trial.
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